


Psychro Always Gets His Man...dora

by Knave_Iespyk



Series: Lunar Cycle Series [4]
Category: Thundercats
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-08-30
Updated: 2010-08-30
Packaged: 2017-10-11 08:55:15
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 51,186
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/110625
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Knave_Iespyk/pseuds/Knave_Iespyk
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Psychro is tracking Mandora in pursuit of winning a bet and scoring with the ultimate prize.  Mandora is tracking Psychro in pursuit of justice.  When they crash on a hostile world they must work together or perish.  But whose pursuit will come to fruition as they look for a way home.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Psychro Always Gets His Man...dora  
By Jonathan J. Prideaux  
Chapter 1

Present day

"You know, I've always fancied myself to be something of a magician. Do you like magic shows?" he asked. Psychro was at one of his favourite establishments on the Royal moon. Sure, there were better places on some of the other moons, but on the Royal one this place couldn't be beat. The decor was classy but not too fancy, with modern wooden furniture in that antique flavour that he was so fond of. There was a pleasant atmosphere and very little in the way of offensive odours. There wasn't a band playing, either, which he was glad for as it drew attention away from himself. All in all, a very nice place.

"I do," the woman replied, bringing to mind the other reason he loved this place; the women. The finest university on the moons was just around the corner, and all the pretty young things escaped to here for their liquid refreshment. This one appeared to be native to the moon, though he suspected she wasn't directly connected to anyone important given the less than fashionable clothes she wore. The people of this moon were weird that way. Everyone could trace their roots to the royal family, no matter how obscure the connection. It wasn't like that on the Ice Moon where he was from. The Ice Moon was simple. They were divided into Houses. The oldest blood member of the House ruled it. If you didn't like playing by those rules, you branched off to your own House.

He took her hand gently in his own and stared deeply into her eyes, his other hand lightly playing across her wrist and forearm. "Good. Then come up to my room tonight for a special one time performance. You let me work my magic on you, I'll give you the show of a life time." Her face flushed and she eagerly pocketed his hotel room information.

Sometimes it was too easy. His rugged good looks on their own had captured the hearts of many a lass, but combined with the powers his Psion blood gave him he found himself more often interested in the chase versus the catch. He possessed a charming ability, one that could sway an opinion; it worked better in close proximity and even better when there was physical touch involved. He couldn't outright change someone's mind, but influence it yes.

"How do you do eet?" A voice asked. The voice belonged to the reason he had come to the moon in the first place. Tug Mug of the Graviton moon, whose people believed that girth equalled status, and that the worst kind of beer was the kind that hadn't been consumed.

"Ah, a good magician never reveals his tricks," Psychro replied. There was a complicated system of tricks he used to obtain his women, and it was largely based on knowing one's subject and gauging reactions. It was far too complex a system to get into over beer, and he didn't want too much competition anyway.

"I mean the hokey lines. How do you get away weeth eet?"

What the hell, maybe he'd give out a tidbit, besides he'd gotten the idea for the hokey line in the first place from his Graviton friend. He had overheard two women talking and one had made reference to Tug Mug being like a magician after sex, having a disappearing act once he was done. "With a woman like that, the secret is to make it obvious that you know you're being hokey, it shows you've got a sense of humour while getting your point across. I know her type. She loves hearing stuff like that. Doesn't work on everyone though, some women are no nonsense types, not a drop of humour in them."

"Speaking of wheech. You'll never guess who I ran eento; the reason I asked to see you. I'll geeve you a hint, she's a cop," Tug Mug said. Psychro had always found the other man's accent a little difficult to comprehend at times, and it got worse when either had been drinking, but generally found it almost endearing.

"You'll have to be more specific. I've slept with at least six cops." Which was true, though one of them hadn't told him she was a cop so he wasn't sure that one counted. When it came down to it, he was an admitted womanizer. It wasn't that he didn't *want* to settle down, it's just that he became restless when he was in a relationship. His longest relationship was a month, and he considered that to be some kind of record.

"Two words. Man... Dora." Psychro's thoughts stopped instantly, and he knew exactly what Tug Mug was talking about. The legendary officer for the Interplanetary Control Force; Mandora. His grin widened and Tug Mug burst into laughter. He hopped over to the bar and purchased two pitchers of ale and a pair of mugs and set them down.

* * *

One week ago

Tug Mug was conducting some business on his home moon, pleased with reports that his blend of beer was being used by one of the bigger distilleries. 'Chug a mug of Tug Mug's jug' was going to be the new slogan when it came out. Suddenly his sensors blared at him. Orbiting the moon was an asteroid, the only moon he knew of that had its own moon, and on it was a ship of some kind. One life reading. It was highly unusual to find anyone on the asteroid, so it was probably either someone in need of help or someone doing something illegal. Either way he could be a hero and probably milk that for a free round of beer.

He wheeled his ship down and realized just who was there. Mandora, lying flat on her stomach next to the Electrocharger, her famed motorcycle. What would an evil chaser of her legendary status be doing laying on an asteroid? Moving as swiftly as his wheels would allow, he approached her side. She was alive, conscious and... drunk? Mandora, the most dangerous law enforcer, a woman who was rumoured to be a cleverly designed robot, was drunk? He snapped a picture with his camera and then bent down next to her, touching her shoulder gently.

"I've failed, I'm a lousy cop who let personal needs get in the way of the law," she mumbled softly, her normally flat monotone voice cracking with sorrow. "Damn that Psychro. Damn him to hell."

* * *

Present day

Psychro leaned further back in his chair, feeling rather smug. For Mandora, the proud and mighty Mandora, to have sunk so far because of him... "I have that effect on women," he said, as though that explained everything.

"You deedn't..." Tug Mug started, then look at the smug look again, "you deed. You banged the evil chaser."

"Yup. Number two hundred and thirty three."

"Thees ees a story I have to hear," Tug Mug poured himself a second glass of beer and gestured for a waitress to bring another pitcher.

"To do that, I should start at the beginning..."

* * *

Eleven weeks ago

Chilla sat in the pilot's seat of the Psi-Blade class fighter. Built, naturally, on the Psion moon it typically took two people, traditionally so that one Psion could use their powers while the other piloted. She had been assigned the biggest pain in her neck as co-pilot Psychro of House Myntaello. From the day she'd met him, almost a year ago now, he had been trying to get into her tights to no avail. Every time they talked it was nothing but sexual innuendo and romantic advances, even freezing him in ice didn't seem to slow him down. Unfortunately, her commanding officer, a Darkling named Stalker, had complained that her flight hours were low and Psychro was the only one available. What was more infuriating was that if the whole matter had only waited an extra few days he wouldn't be around. He was heading back to the Royal Moon to visit his family.

"Come on, Chilla, you're like the black mark on my record, a black spot on my soul that needs you to fill it. I can get any woman to sleep with me except for you, and I don't understand it," he said from the passenger seat. He was good at his job, keeping her updated on the ship's status when he wasn't making dirty remarks.

An idea occurred to her and, though she figured she might regret it later, she knew that it would blow him off for a while. "Then prove it."

"Port heat sink is at ninety-six percent and holdi... what?"

"What you said. That you can get any woman to sleep with you. If you can sleep with a woman of my choosing, I'll go out with you on a date." Her tone implied that, in the unlikely event he won the bet, it would be dinner and nothing more; not even a kiss goodnight. And, as she knew his ego so well, he accepted.

"You're on. Conditionally. First, no one underage, married, or otherwise illegal or immoral," he said. It was fair enough, there had to be some kind of standards to prevent her from choosing someone like his sister. "Second, we employ the three strike system. I get to veto up to three people of your choosing. Otherwise, everyone is fair game."

"Done."

* * *

Present day

"She peecked Loona, didn't she," Tug Mug said, guffawing. He, of course, realized where the story was going, and couldn't help but wonder if Chilla had heard the news yet. She would be mortified to find out that he had won the bet.

"First one she said, followed by Robear Belle, whom I disqualified." The reasoning was obvious. Robear Belle probably didn't technically have sex organs, and it was still uncertain whether she was married in some fashion to Robears Bill, Bob or any of the others. Though Chilla didn't like it, she had conceded the point. Her third pick, and his second disqualification, was Mumm-Rana. Angry fathers were something he didn't like dealing with, but angry gods was probably worse. Fourth had been Mandora. He had fallen for Mandora when he'd first seen her, and so he didn't employ his third strike, to her surprise. He was confident in his abilities, and already had the workings of a plan.

"So you tracked down Mandora?" Tug Mug asked, incredulous.

"No, no. One does not simply track down Mandora," he said, "one makes Mandora come to you. Step one was to do something that catches her attention and forces her to come to you. Nothing illegal, mind you, because that's the wrong kind of attention and she might bring back-up. No. I went for her sister."

"I deedn't know she had a sister," Tug Mug said. By this time the waitress had settled down at the table too, curious about how anyone had managed to nail Mandora. She herself knew how convincing Psychro could be, he'd convinced his way under her skirt after all, but Mandora? That should not have been possible.

"She does. Two of them in fact. There's her older sister Sondora and a younger sister Gundora."

"Wait. Sondora, Mandora, and Gundora?" the waitress asked.

"I didn't name them. Their parents must've been hippies or something. Anyway, thanks to a few plans that I set in motion, I knew that once I had my way with Gundora that I would soon be receiving a visit from her big sister. Two weeks later, I was proven right."

* * *

Ten weeks ago.

Another bar, Mandora was hardly surprised. Her informants had gotten her to the Plundarr system, and told her that this seedy looking place was the place to look for Psychro. She disliked this part of her route, there weren't many laws on Plundarr or its moons, and the lawlessness of it all disgusted her. As she walked up to the building she spotted all manner of things that would be illegal anywhere else; mostly things like building code violations and public indecency. But then, this was the Graviton moon and everything about their population was indecent to her way of thinking. Overweight slobs poisoning their minds with intoxicants. She shook her head disdainfully and entered the bar.

There he was, chatting with some floozy. The woman was a Graviton woman with bright pink and green striped hair who was chatting amiably with him. She noticed Mandora framed in the entrance and said something to Psychro.

For a second, Mandora thought she had a runner; someone who would bolt at the first sign of the law, someone she would have to chase down and wrestle to the ground. Somewhat to her disappointment, Psychro waved her on over instead. "Mandora, I'd like to introduce you to Heavy Bevy, she's the president of my fanclub," he said cheerfully when the evil chaser got close enough.

"Hit the bricks, missy, I want a word with Mr. Myntaello," she said. She was focussed on Psychro and it was only for the sake of her sister's reputation that she wasn't discussing Gundora's indiscretions in front of strangers.

"Actually, it's Psychro. The Myntaello isn't really used in introductions," he said, gesturing that Heavy Bevy had his consent to leave. She had been something of a mistake. When he'd received a message from a woman announcing that she was president of his fanclub, and asking for a private rendezvous, he had been so flattered that he had made the mistake of agreeing before seeing her. His word was his bond, though, and he'd sent her on a wild ride; one that had a special prize at the end. All those women bedded and only two pregnancies, though the first one hadn't come to term. He shook his head to clear the thought away, that way lay bad memories and lots more beer.

"I don't care what you call yourself, I heard how you defiled my sister, so I've come to issue a warning. Keep your nose very clean, because if I catch you doing even the smallest infraction in my territory I'll have you in jail before you know what hit you," she said, leaning forward and staring at him hard through her visor.

"First of all," he announced, speaking slowly, "I didn't do anything to her that she didn't want me to do, she was a screamer, crying my name so loud people a block away heard it. Second, leaning down like that is giving me a great shot at your cleavage." She jerked upright faster than anyone he'd ever seen before. "Let me explain something to you, officer Mandora. You and I are going to find out just how much like your sister you are, I'm going to have you begging me to make love to you in every position I know, and I know a lot. The sooner you come to terms with that, the easier and more enjoyable this will be for both of us."

"How dare you talk to me like that, if we were on any one of six planets... You disgust me. Just remember that you were warned."

* * *

Present day

"Okay," Psychro said, "my first approach didn't work. I figured a hard nosed cop would want a tough guy, but also want the plain and honest truth. Apparently not. I ran into her almost every day that week, and I'd always try something new. But I was very careful not to do anything that would give her a valid reason to incarcerate me."

"Why not use your powers?" Tug Mug asked, and the bar maid nodded.

"Because that might give her an excuse. These evil chasers are allowed to arrest people if they try to attack them in any way, which means messing with her mind is dangerous. I couldn't even put a finger on her in case she tried to argue that I had assaulted her."

* * *

Nine weeks ago.

Psychro was back on the Ice Moon, working in the family garage. It was a small shop, but they made money. The place had been in the family for three generations, even though the current crop barely used it. His twin sister, Psikaris, had moved on to bigger and better things within Queen Luna's government, and most of the rest of the immediate family weren't interested enough in mechanics. Psychro had considered closing the place down once or twice, but the dedicated clientele was there and he'd made some close friends through it.

At present it was only himself and one of his near cousins working. It was getting close to dinner time, and they only had the one little project left to finish. Some higher up had left his vehicle behind for an oil change before going on a scientific expedition elsewhere in the frozen wastes. The red-black liquid started to flow into the waiting pan beneath the truck, so the two headed to the sink to wash up. Then the bell chimed to indicate someone had come in. Psychro gestured that he would take care of it and went into the front.

It was her. He'd been wondering if she would follow him to his home moon once his business on the Graviton moon was finished, and wasn't surprised to see that she had. Mandora was dressed in a heavier winter coat, though he wondered where she had picked it up from, but still had the same nasty demeanor. She belonged here, he thought to himself, the ice water in her veins matched the frigid temperature outside. She was currently eyeing the place critically while he eyed her. "I've been researching Ice Moon infractions. I should probably report this place to the local authorities for poor ventilation," she said crisply.

"Ehn, what's another inspector bribed. This is the Ice Moon, Mandora, things are different here. You know, you look cold. Why don't I take you out, buy you a nice hot meal..." he started

"And get me in your nice warm bed, I bet. Not a chance, perpetrator, just reminding you that you can't get away from me that easily," she said, walking over to where he stood and jabbed a finger in his direction. She didn't get it. He didn't want to get away from her, he wanted to get close to her. Very close. Closer than her own skin. He watched her leave, trying to think of some way to crack that shell.

* * *

That night he dreamt that he was on a desert island, he wandered the beach alone for a while until he realized that there was another island almost attached to this one. On that other island were dozens of scantily clad Mandoras, prancing about collecting coconuts and bananas. They were giggling and singing in rich beautiful voices. Suddenly the fruit turned into pillows and the sand turned into pudding, as an impromptu pillow-fight started. But before he could join in, because every pillow-fight needs a referee, a solid brick wall arose around him, blocking his way no matter how hard he tried.

When he woke, it was in a cold sweat. He reached for the light and stared at his shaking hands. That blasted woman, she was in his head, she was his drug and he needed his fix. But if he was going to succeed, then he would need to take drastic measures. He would have to do something he had hoped never to do, but first he had to take care of his body's needs.

* * *

Present day

"Speaking of which, I thought you were supposed to take your annual bath," Psychro said, turning to find the waitress returning now that the vivid description of his dream was over.

"Nah, why bother wasting this great smell? I have a date next week," Tug Mug replied.

"How your species manages it, I'll never understand."

* * *

Eight weeks, six days ago

She was watching him from a distance, safely disguised as a mound of snow. Her specially designed visor allowed her to see quite clearly despite the cover, and her uniform generated its own heat to keep her warm. Even still, her legs were cramped, her arms were stiff, and she was quite frustrated with waiting for him. No, she wasn't frustrated. Frustration wasn't a helpful emotion and therefore was not allowed in her thought processes. Besides, she chided herself, she'd been on worse stakeouts than this. There was the month long stakeout of that biker gang where she'd had to disguise herself as a rock. That had been worse.

That one hadn't been personal either.

A good officer is not bound by personal emotions. Opinions can not influence an officer's behaviour. Only the facts matter, and the fact was that Psychro was a crime waiting to happen. She was doing the sector of space a service by waiting for him to commit one, and bringing him before a court of law.

Keep telling yourself that, you might believe it yet.

Even as she watched, Psychro emerged from the machine shop in a small shuttle that looked like it could hold a half dozen people. He made a turn and stopped it, opened the back hatch and stepped out into the brisk air and looking around. He looked in her direction and smirked. How had he done it? How had he known precisely where to look? Thermal scans! That was a novice mistake to not disguise one's body temperature in an environment like this. Mandora saw him carrying a steel rod which he brought crashing down on the taillight nearest her, smashing both casing and bulb in one clean shot.

He was provoking her! Trying to goad her in to making an arrest, but why? What did he have in mind? Besides, she sternly told herself, this wasn't technically her jurisdiction. Icewalker laws were lenient when it came to vehicle conditions and there was only a very small fine for having a broken taillight. But he seemed to know that fact too. He waved at her as he climbed into the shuttle, his look screaming 'come and get me' as the ship raised off the ground and vanished into the sky.

By all rights she should have ignored it, or at least called it in so that another evil chaser could deal with it. She would be playing right into his hands if she hopped on the Electrocharger and chased him down. And yet... The law was the law; it was unbendable and unbreakable. Offenders had to be punished, there could be no lenience. Her choice was only too clear. She got on the Electrocharger and gave chase.

* * *

It was working. Psychro couldn't believe it, but his plan was actually working. Mandora was such a dedicated cop that she couldn't allow even such a small infraction to slip, especially when she already had a personal vendetta against him.

His star charts told him that the nearest penal colony was almost a day away, and that would be a full day during which he would be in very close proximity with her and be able to pour as much charm as he could on her. He wondered if they would stop en route for sleep, or whether she would insist on pushing onwards. Maybe she didn't need sleep, that was entirely possible. Or maybe she would make sure he was sleeping before allowing her guard to be down that much. After all, she did everything by the book, and the book would tell her that the prisoner should never be trusted. He wondered, suddenly, what the book said about officer/criminal relationships.

He was just barely outside the Plundarr system when his scanners started blaring out a warning, Mandora's ship was pulling alongside his own, so he opened the airlock to let her in.

* * *

Mandora didn't trust Psychro, not as far as she could throw him, but to finally have an excuse to bring him in was a chance that couldn't be passed up. She tethered the Electrocharger to the plain gray ship with 'Space Babe' written on the side in blocky purple lettering, and entered through the rear airlock, boomerang drawn and ready to use. He was waiting, as she expected, on the other side. She wondered, looking at his face, whether he any facial expressions other than cocky. "Psychro, of House Myntaello," she began, a subtle jab at their earlier conversation, "you are under arrest for knowingly operating a vehicle with a broken taillight in this district of space. According to the charter of the Interplanetary Control Force I am required to inform you of your legal rights."

"Don't bother on my account," he sighed. This was hardly his first arrest, and the reading of the rights was one of the most boring aspects of it. He didn't know why they bothered with them, they were so straightforward and painfully obvious. Still, it was probably to cover their butts.

"Let the record show that the perpetrator has waived the listing of his rights. Now, come quietly or I'll be required to use force."

She had that tone of voice, the kind that suggested that she really wanted him to make her use force. The kind that suggested that she was looking to vent a lot of frustrations on his person. He was tempted to let her. But there was something about the way she stood, delivering her words, that excited him. "When I come, it's never quiet," he leered, enjoying the disgusted look on her face. "You know, you're very beautiful when you're angry, you should let people see that side of you more often. By the Lunar gods, that's it! I've got a new pet name for you. Mandorable, get it? Because you're Mandora and you're adorable?"

And that was when she hit him, an act she instantly regretted. She wasn't easily provoked, ever, so why was he having this kind of effect on her. She cursed herself mentally. Psychro could easily bring her up on charges of police brutality, and there was nothing she could do about it. But he wouldn't do it, she could see it on his face that he was quite pleased with himself. Instead he held out his arms, waiting for the handcuffs to be placed on, which she did gratefully.

* * *

Present day.

"You see, I knew that using my powers to make her love me was out, I would never get her in my arms in such a short time, but anger... Anger is an easy emotion to play with. Everyone has that point where they can be brought to the brink of losing control and then gently be pushed over the edge. The whole time, I was flooding her brain with a desire to hit me, which admittedly wasn't hard. I was about to suggest to point out to her that I could press charges, which would ruin her career and probably have mine dropped. All I required was a kiss," Psychro said, noting that a few other patrons had wandered over and were listening in.

Experience had taught him that his charming powers worked better with physical contact, as his closest friends knew, but what they didn't know is that certain kinds of physical contact enhanced his powers. On his own he was a great lover, coupled with his ability to make people believe they were having the best sex ever he became excellent. He'd often wondered if a state of high arousal on his own part added to the strength of his suggestions, and had considered on more than one occasion going to a proper Psion school to learn more about his skills. But it was more fun to experiment. He took a few nachos, dripping with five different kinds of cheese and ate them, letting his audience wonder what happened next.

* * *

Eight weeks, six days ago.

With her prisoner in custody, all that remained was to bring him to the nearest facility. She would place him on her Electrocharger and arrange for a towing service to collect his ship and impound it. All very neat and tidy, as the law was meant to be. Sure, he wouldn't be incarcerated for very long, he'd probably be clogging the space lanes again within a month, but it would get her point across, that neither her family nor the law could be messed with.

The arrogant worm was about to say something, doubtless either crude or cocky, when the ship rocked violently to the side. Mandora pushed past Psychro to the cockpit and saw a Mutant ship readying its weapons for a second volley. This was Mutant space, but why were they fighting the Lunataks? The latest intel suggested that the two races were still on peaceful terms. Was there new information that she wasn't privy to? Either way, she doubted that the 'Space Babe' could withstand too many shots, so she grabbed the radio. "This is officer Mandora, Interplanetary Control Force! Cease your attack immediately!" she said.

Instantly the picture of a Reptilian Mutant appeared on the tiny screen built into the dashboard. Behind him was another Reptile, while a pair of Jackals were at the front controls. They were hideous, all four of them, and she knew she had to be careful. The Mutants of Plundarr were cowardly and respected shows of force, but it was dangerous to underestimate them and judge their intelligence by their looks. More than one Control agent had lost their lives doing just that.

The two Reptiles conferred with each other for a moment before the larger of the two spoke. "I am Reptos and this is my brother Geckren, give Psychro to us and we will let you go on your way."

Mandora looked back at Psychro and saw a guilty look cross his face. Beneath her visor she glared at him, was there nothing humanoid he wouldn't sleep with?

* * *

Present day.

"You slept with a Mutant?" a Darkling asked, looking every bit as disgusted by the prospect as he sounded.

"In my defence, I was drunk. Honestly, though, I don't remember too much about it except that I ended up calling it off after she did this thing with her tail. I've never been so nauseated by something a girl has done, and believe me I've done a lot." Psychro shuddered visibly and washed the thought away with another swig of beer.

* * *

"Slythra now works in a strip club thanks to him," Reptos said.

"Really?" Psychro asked, startled. "That surprises me. Your sister wasn't much to look at, and even worse against the wall. How does she manage..." The ship rocked as the Reptile fired again. Both Psychro and Mandora knew that it was only the presence of the evil chaser that kept them from obliterating the ship.

As much as Mandora was tempted to turn the rogue over to the Mutants, she knew she couldn't justify it. While Mutant justice was barbarous, universal justice took precedence. Besides, she'd already read his rights and cuffed him. He was hers until such time as the penal planet took custody of him. "I'm sorry," she said, "but he's mine. Once his time is finished on the penal planet we will be more than happy to turn him over to your courts for questioning."

"Oh, we don't intend to take him to court. Just to a back alley where we can repay his actions, yesss?" Geckren sneered. "And if you aren't going to turn him over, we'll just have to take him by force."

It didn't look good. A heavily armed Mutant craft against a ship with an unknown quantity of weapons. As much as she didn't like to do it, she turned to Psychro. "Can you get us out of here?" she mouthed. He nodded, so she deactivated his cuffs and stepped aside so he could get to the controls. Instantly the Mutants fired again, throwing the evil chaser violently to one side, but the second barrage went wide as Psychro banked the 'Space Babe' and prepared to return fire.

If there was one thing, other than women, that Psychro knew about, it was mechanics and ships. Mutant ships were as bulky and ugly as the Mutants themselves, but they were strong. Their weapons systems were top of the line and hulls as thick as a Jackalman's head, but get behind their ships and the shields were virtually non-existent and the weapons were useless. The 'Space Babe' on the other hand was designed for speed. He'd made his bed through the life he led, and knew that there came a time when he'd have to lie in it. Angry relatives were just one of the side effects to his promiscuous lifestyle.

The 'Space Babe' rocketed away from the Mutant ship and circled sharply to make a strafing run on the Mutant's engines, scoring a direct hit. The scanners informed him that the main thruster onboard that ship was toast. He pivoted his own ship to make another run, when the alarm began blaring warnings. Mandora looked over in concern. "What's wrong?" she asked.

"I'm losing power. One of their shots must done some wicked damage to my relays. Life support is going down. I can fix it, but it means shutting just about everything else down. I'm going to try something really stupid, and pray that it works," he said. There was the option of using the Electrocharger, still tethered outside, but he doubted they'd be able to get there before the Mutants blew them apart. His only hope was to point the 'Space Babe' towards vacant space, floor it, and then kill all the power so that he could safely get to the life support systems. The inertia would keep them going away from the Mutant ship, hopefully long enough to get the repairs done before they hit something.

"This had better work..." she warned him, realizing what he was doing as the ship roared off.

"Well, if it doesn't, then you get to lecture me about it in the afterlife. Now hold on to your hat, and try to warn me if you see any planets coming up. If we're lucky I'll have about five seconds to get everything back up and running before we hit," he said, running to the a side panel.

As he tossed the panel aside he could see that the damage was far more intensive than he'd thought; several parts would need to be replaced, and many more could only be temporarily fixed. It was almost cheaper to buy a whole new ship than to purchase all the parts he would need. Still, buying another ship wasn't an option. He set about his work, praying to all four Lunar gods that he would get out of this alive.

* * *

Aboard the Mutant ship Geckren and Reptos watched angrily as the 'Space Babe' and its immoral occupant got away. Their own ship, they knew from listening to the damage report, would never be able to keep up with them. "There will be another time, yesss?" Reptos growled. "Set a course back to Plundarr for repairs, but keep track of their course."

* * *

Present day.

"It looked grim. Life support was fading fast and I could feel the oxygen supply getting a little low. I had to work fast," Psychro said, pleased to be the centre of attention at the bar. There were only six people around him, but they seemed fascinated by the story, and someone seemed to be paying for all his food and drinks. "Mind you, as Halleya can tell you, working fast around the ladies is not something I'm used to doing." The barmaid flushed, and he continued.

* * *

Eight weeks, six days ago.

While Psychro conducted the necessary repairs to the ship, Mandora took the time to take stock of things herself. She was a little banged up from the jostling, but didn't seem to be otherwise injured, a few bruises, nothing more. Her helmet had taken some minor damage, but she didn't think there was anything seriously wrong with it. She considered briefly taking it off for an inspection, but decided not to give Psychro any distractions.

Besides, she had a job to do. While there was no power flowing through the control panel, her helmet's scanners worked fine, she could see better through the front window with them than she would have with just her eyes. For all his bragging and cockiness, Psychro did seem to occasionally think with his brain because, from what she could tell, he had picked a good course. Space was big, but sloppy calculations could still send one hurtling into a star or other celestial body. They passed a meteor, but that was about the worst of it.

Actually, the worst of it was the faint sensation of being lightheaded. The oxygen levels were getting lower, her helmet helpfully providing her with the exact ratio of oxygen to carbon dioxide and cheerfully telling her that another hour of this and she would be dead. Ugh. Spending the last hour of her life with Psychro, unable to bring him to justice because they would both be dead. Then again, if he got them out of this mess he would lord over her the fact that he had saved her life. Horrible fate no matter what happened.

"Dammit!" she heard him curse, followed by a distinct hammering sound.

"Having troubles?" she asked, a faint trace of sarcasm entering her voice. It was unusual, since she usually found that humour wasn't useful in crime fighting.

"Just a few. Nothing I can't handle, though. Keep your eyes peeled," he snapped. She heard a creaking noise and then the sound of something snapping into place. "There. That's better."

It was truly amazing. Beneath the bravado and the womanizing, there was a man who could focus and do good work when he wanted to. He put the same focus into his mechanical work as she did when she was on the case, an admirable trait if it wasn't so covered up by his machismo. It was a shame. If he would only show that side instead of what he normally showed she might actually have considered... What was she talking about? There was no room at all in her life for anything resembling romance.

When she had first joined the Interplanetary Control Force, it had been strongly discouraged. Women simply didn't enter Control, and they certainly would never achieve any great success. The people in charge at the time were very old school, very much of the belief that a woman's place was in the kitchen or in the bed. Perhaps that was why Psychro's attitude bothered her so much; it reminded her of the nonsense she had had to fight through to get where she was.

Determined not to let such sexist politics get to her, Mandora had dived into her work, ignoring the sexual advances made. She'd heard them all. "Why don't you play with my nightstick?" "I'd like to give you a boomerang." "Are you a good cop or a naughty cop?" It bugged her so much that when a story had crossed her desk about a new experimental procedure she had jumped at it.

A small chip, implanted at the base of the skull that blocked her hormones and hindered the emotional side of her brain. It didn't stop her from having feelings, it just required stronger feelings to get through and influence her thought processes. The change was dramatic, suddenly all those unwanted advances were ignored, and her success rate rose astronomically. As the years went by, the old guard slowly retired and newer people came in, fewer people remembered the old Mandora and her legend grew. She allowed the rumours to circulate, feeling that they only served to make her a better cop. The more the populace feared and respected her, the less likely they were to break the law and incur her wrath.

But then there was Psychro. He was determined, she had to concede, and he went out of his way to catch her attention. But why? She was attractive, she had been told on far too many occasions, and kept her body in perfect condition. Was it the bragging rights that would come with it? Was that all there was, or did he genuinely care? She almost snorted at the thought. The odds of him actually wanting a proper long term, caring, and nurturing relationship with her were as minuscule as they got. And yet, the rational part of her brain reasoned, he was a fairly attractive specimen himself. For anyone to obtain as many lovers as he had, it was only natural to assume that he was good looking, after all. And Gundora had positively gushed over the way he had treated her physically.

Why was she thinking along those lines, anyway? It didn't make sense. They were in a crisis situation and she was with a criminal. Maybe it was the reduction of oxygen that was doing it. "Hey Mandorable, check it out. Everything works!" he said. She turned and caught sight of his naked buttocks pointing and waving in her direction.

"Everything apart from your pants, I see," she said. She didn't turn away simply because that was the kind of reaction he wanted out of her. She had seen many buttocks in her time processing criminals, so one more was not going to phase her.

"Ah, you're no fun, Manny," his voice trailed off.

"Don't call me..." she started before he was rushing towards her, pulling up his pants. Instantly she dropped into a defensive crouch and punched him hard across the jaw. He went sprawling backwards on to the floor, and she jumped on him, twisting his arms so that she could cuff him again. "That was a stupid mistake, perpetrator. Attacking an officer of the law can be twenty years to life."

"No... Planet!" he gasped as the arm was wrenched hard.

She turned to see that indeed there was a small greenish planet coming up fast. She had been so focussed on her own thoughts that she had missed it approaching, and then misinterpreted his actions as being hostile. There was no time to turn the power back on before impact. All they could do was brace for it and hope for the best.


	2. Chapter 2

Psychro Always Gets His Man...dora  
By Jonathan J. Prideaux  
Chapter 2

Six weeks, two days ago.

He was used to waking up in all manner of places, from dumpsters to bed with silken sheets. He'd woken up on a park bench once, and another time in a hammock. He had also, by virtue of his nature, wakened next to all manners of people. Beautiful women, ugly women, happy women, sleeping women, and furious women. Women of all shapes and sizes, in fact. There were men too, but they never had quite the same look of blissful contentment.

All that experience had taught him a valuable lesson; if you don't know where you are, don't move until you do. The overall sensation around him was warmth. There was a warm body pressed against his bare back, with warm slightly damp breath on the back of his neck. The room smelled strongly of animal sweat and that pleasant female scent.

Now then, what did he remember? He'd been on the Ice Moon and had tried to convince Mandora to arrest him. He'd managed to get her onboard his ship and... wait. Was it Mandora whose bosom was pressed tightly against his back? Had he somehow managed to bang the evil chaser and not remember it? That was weird. Had he been drinking, if so how much? That would explain why his head felt all fuzzy. Without thinking the matter through any further, and determined to catch a glimpse of Mandora's nude form, he turned over and promptly screamed. It wasn't Mandora, but a female horse Mutant.

* * *

Present day.

"Oh right, real romantic," Halleya said, snickering and giving Psychro's shoulder a playful shove. "Just what every girl wants, is the guy they've been sleeping with to scream in their ear."

"As I recall, I had you screaming too, multiple times even, only it was my name and a very different context," Psychro replied, shutting the girl up at once.

Tug Mug's greasy fingers plucked a chicken wing off the plate and tore a strip off it. "How deed you survive the crash?"

"Mostly dumb luck, I'm guessing. Mandora mentioned to me that she had realized that she couldn't get to the Electrocharger safely, especially if she had to deal with my wobbly body, so she remotely controlled it to slow our descent. It must have been enough because I'm still standing."

* * *

Six weeks, two days ago.

The horse Mutant recoiled from the scream, and his body protested in kind. In a flash his memory of the impending crash and the events leading up to it returned. "I'm so sorry. I was just caught off guard and..." the woman's face softened and she climbed out of bed. He was relieved, in some way, to find that she was fully clothed in a loose fitting outfit. The clothing, almost a really long shirt, was off-white and had gold trim. But what was most striking was the fact that she was a humanoid lavender horse.

"It's alright. I was startled too. I was asleep when you screamed," she said, almost shyly.

"We didn't... I mean, you were snuggled up to me and..." he wasn't usually this awkward around women, just ones he hoped he hadn't slept with. Luckily she didn't seem to catch that undertone, or just didn't care.

"No. You've been in no condition to do much of anything, let alone sex. My name is Ellis, I'm a healer in these parts and I found your ship, actually I'm more of a farmer, but I know a fair amount of medicine. I've never seen creatures like the two of you. We're supposed to turn in outsiders, that is people who aren't like us, but I couldn't. I've always loved the colour purple." He saw a faint blush creeping across her muzzle. Subtly he checked to make sure he still had his pants on, and was almost horrified to find that he was only wearing his boxers. "When I found you two, you were both unconscious and you were so different in body temperature, I worried you might be freezing to death, or that she was heating up. So I used my body to keep you warm and put her next to the freezer."

"The freezer? Wait, you thought we were the same species? Didn't the difference in our skin colour tip you off?" he looked around and took note of his surroundings. A primitive bedroom, with a large double bed, a dresser, a full length mirror and a square window. There was a door near the mirror that he guessed led to a hallway. Was this her bedroom or a guest room?

"You don't know much about my people, do you. I guess that makes sense. We've always kept to ourselves and dislike outsiders, but the short version is that our people, the Equine Mutants of Equidarr, come in many different shades and colours. I'd just assumed that the same rules applied to your species," she looked almost upset, so he gestured for her to sit back down. His body hurt like hell and he was on an unfamiliar planet which apparently had strict policies against aliens. The last thing he wanted to do was to upset what was potentially the only friendly face on the planet.

"There's a lot to understand, and I'm sorry if I offend you in anyway," he said, gently touching her with both his hand and his charm power. Not a lot, just enough to soothe and calm. Besides, his head still felt all weird and fuzzy. Probably from the sleep. "Mandora and I aren't the same species at all. She's human and I'm a Lunatak."

She tensed in his arms and he knew he'd made a mistake. "A Lunatak?" She recoiled and stood again, inching to the door, almost wanting to go and call whatever passed for authorities here. Instantly, though his mind and body begged him not to, he sent waves of desire at her, hoping to rekindle whatever lust had spared his life. "We were told that you were demons, boogeymen meant to scare children." He saw the fear warring with lust on her face, and hoped that if she took him up on it that he'd be up to the challenge. He had yet to truly see what kind of injuries he had, and how much physical exertion he could take.

"I'm no boogeyman. I'm flesh and blood. And I'm not evil at all, come over here and let me show you," he said, dropping his voice lower. He knew all the tricks, but would they work on a species he'd never seen? Her eyes dropped to his crotch momentarily and then flicked away.

"Maybe later," she said. "I'd better go check on your friend and get you some food. You've been unconscious for over a week despite my healing skills."

A week? "I'd like to come with you. If I've been in bed that long, it'll be nice to get these muscles moving again. And I'll instruct you as best I can with Mandora. She'll be needing somewhere warm, for one thing..." he followed her out into the hall, hoping that Mandora was just as scantily dressed as he had been.

* * *

The rest of the home consisted of a simply furnished front room, a small pantry and a kitchen. It was in the pantry that he saw Mandora. She still wore her black jumpsuit, but her helmet lay off to one side, allowing her golden yellow hair to pool around her head. Laying there so peacefully on her back, her breathing steady and gentle, her face relaxed, she looked so pure and innocent. Psychro always felt that you saw a person's real face when they were sleeping, it was a time when their guard was down and they showed that beautiful vulnerability.

Ellis helped him move her away from the slight open freezer and went to fetch a blanket while he gently rubbed her skin, trying to stimulate the circulation. Once the Equine Mutant had left he forced away the temptation to take advantage of his situation. He was a gentleman at heart, after all. It was something that people didn't understand it, they saw only the womanizing, but the truth was that he really did want to settle down.

Most of the time, he amended. There were times when all he wanted was casual sex, and he was good about being upfront about it. That was one of the benefits of his so called fan club. Thanks to his reputation as a lover there were a few women who were eager to have the 'Psychro Experience' without strings attached and Heavy Bevy would arrange for a meeting with one if he went too long without. It was a crap shoot, though, and there was no telling whether the woman would be even remotely attractive.

So, although it would be easy to cop a feel for some cheap thrills, he would much rather she gave him permission to do so. Just seeing her face felt like something that he shouldn't be doing. For so long no one knew what lay beneath the helmet. Speculation ran the gamut from having ten eyes to having none, but she was human and she had the normal two.

Ellis returned and together they wrapped her in the warm red and grey blanket. It would suffice until they could carry her to a more comfortable place. It had been a struggle to carry the two wounded people, though Ellis was clearly very strong. Though Mandora wasn't heavy, they both felt that if Psychro could help carry her it would make life easier.

They moved into the kitchen and she placed a porridge like concoction in front of him on the table. It was sweet and tasted strongly of apples, but it was delicious and he had started on his second bowl before she started asking him questions about himself and his life.

He wasn't sure what to reveal, or how much, but he felt reasonably comfortable in talking about Psikaris, day to day life on the Ice Moon, and the like. Mostly neutral topics, and he suspected that she knew what he was doing. She shivered during his telling of the Ice Moon, and how his people adapted to the daily cold. There were no seasons there, just winter and more winter, so their bodies had become accustomed to the cold. He even demonstrated what little powers his Icewalker side granted him, a warming touch and a chilly breath. Neither power was particularly impressive, but she seemed amused by it. The one thing he didn't tell her about was his charm.

Somehow, and he wasn't quite sure how they had come to the agreement, they had decided that it would be best if they waited for Mandora to wake up before they talked about the planet that he and the evil chaser had landed on. Instead, when talk of himself began to wane, she asked questions about humans. This was a harder subject for Psychro because, bluntly put, he'd never taken much interest in human history. Sure, he knew that the Warrior Maidens of Third Earth were somehow connected to humanity, and had heard some stories speculating that the Snow Men of Hook Mountain and Hachiman were human too, but he'd never found himself that interested in the subject, apart from the obvious interest in a society comprised solely of women. Unfortunately, as he'd discovered once, they weren't nearly as sex starved as he had hoped, and had chased him away with bows and arrows.

He knew a little more about Control, having had one or two run ins with the interplanetary force, but even that was mostly limited to specific procedures and rumour. He wondered, as he did often through the conversations with Ellis, whether he had said the wrong thing in admitting to a checkered past. She had already described Lunataks as being demons from legends, so adding a criminal history just seemed to strengthen that opinion. She produced a honeyed cake for him and then led him back up to bed. His body was still weakened from his time out, and he really did need to rest. Within minutes he was asleep again.

* * *

Many years ago.

His name was Dalien, her first real boyfriend and the only one who was really encouraging her to join the force. She had just come to his home from the entrance exam, having passed with flying colours. He had swept her up into his arms and kissed her passionately at the news, and they'd made love in his bed for the first of many times. Their relationship had been rocky as the realities of Control began sinking in, and were destroyed utterly a year later when she found that she had only been admitted after he'd pulled some strings. If she was going to make it, she wanted it to be on her own merits, not because of a bribe or because someone was coerced. That was the very kind of action that she was trying to combat.

But that one night had been incredible. The torrential flood of emotions and feelings she had experienced were indescribable. She did wonder, once or twice after the chip had been installed, whether her career was worth the price of losing that kind of enjoyment.

* * *

Six weeks, one day ago.

Mandora woke, startled. It had been almost fifteen years since she'd thought of that failed relationship with Dalien, so why was she doing it now? Years of experience had trained her well, and she immediately pushed the confusing dream aside to analyse the situation. She was in an unfamiliar place, laying on the floor next to a freezer with a coarse blanket tucked around her and missing her helmet. Her body protested as she moved, which indicated that she had been there for some time, and that she had experienced some injuries, which made sense given the crash.

The crash. That was right, she had been in a spaceship with Psychro when they had crash landed. So they had either been rescued, were captured, or Psychro had pulled her out. She wasn't restrained, and the door seemed to be open, from what she could tell, so that probably ruled out capture, although that was no guarantee. Stealthily she rose from the floor and crept over to the door, peering out. There was a dim light, just enough to see by, but not well. Her helmet had night vision built in, but that would only do her any good if she knew where the heck it was.

As she moved out of what she now realized was a pantry, she found herself in a kitchen. The light she had seen was coming from a window set over the sink, allowing her to see wide open plains and a grove of some kind of trees to one side. The sun seemed to be just starting to rise. The place smelled cozy and of Mutant. She was used to dealing with renegade Mutants and the prospect of being in the home of one set her on edge. And where was Psychro? Had he survived the crash or just her? She grabbed a long sharp knife from the counter and cautiously moved even further through the house. There was someone in the living room, she could hear their faint snoring now. She inched closer and peered over the couch, ready to defend herself if need be. It was an Equine Mutant!

In all her years of studying the races and cultures of the various planets in her district, she had heard only in hushed rumours of the existence of these creatures. Plundarrian legend said that they were traitors who had fled into exile rather than face their punishment for betraying their kin. She stepped backwards, and moved into the bedroom and found Psychro fast asleep in there. He was breathing normally, suggesting that he was in relatively fine condition. A bit of a blessing that. If she was going to be stranded on an alien world, having him for an ally might prove beneficial.

She returned to the pantry, pleased to see that she had somehow overlooked her helmet and weapons sitting on a shelf and grabbed something to eat while she was rummaging. As she settled back on the blanket she took stock of the situation. They didn't seem to be in any immediate danger. Her wounds had been tended to, and she didn't see any guards lurking about. Indeed, she had only seen the one Mutant and Psychro himself. She didn't know why he had merited a bed while she got the floor, but that seemed unimportant for the moment.

Her helmet was badly dented along the back, but most of the systems in the visor seemed to be working. Nineteen days she had been out, she noted with some shock as she replayed the logs from the helmet. Although she had been unconscious, the camera in the visor had continued to record long after they'd hit the planet's surface, and she watched as the Equine Mutant walked into view and carried her outside, laying her on some kind of sled. There was nothing for a minute, just empty sky, until she must have been jostled somehow as the screen shook and swayed to the side and she saw part of Psychro's shoulder and chin. It was startling to see the amount of blood on him, and part of a nasty cut and knew that her own condition couldn't have been much better.

There was more jostling, and the sky in the background started to move, suggesting they were being taken somewhere. The trip, as she fast forwarded, took about half an hour and ended at a wooden building. Mandora could see the Equine examining both her and Psychro, turning her head slightly to get a better look. Then Mandora was lifted up, and taken to a pump that was probably at the back of the house. The Mutant examined the helmet and finally managed to take it off, automatically stopping the recording.

It wasn't hard to figure out what happened next. The Mutant had no doubt cleaned her up and tended to her injuries, and then likely done the same to Psychro. What had happened since then was a little harder to gauge. Did anyone know where they were, or was it just this strange Mutant? At what point, if any, had Psychro woken up? And what condition was the ship in? She needed to get off this planet, whatever planet it was, and report what had happened to Control. By now there must be at least a few ships searching the Moons of Plundarr for any clues as to what might have happened to her.

She stopped suddenly, instinct demanding that she take up her boomerang again and be ready as she heard heavy footfalls heading her way. The Mutant looked both surprised and relieved to see her up, though, so she put the weapon away. "You must be Mandora, Psychro has told me a lot about you. Come into the kitchen, he should be up soon."

* * *

Less than an hour later, the smells of bread being warmed in the oven drew Psychro out of his slumber and into the kitchen. "Mandora!" he said, stopping himself at the last second from embracing her when he saw the warning look in her eyes. It was less a look of 'keep away from me you disgusting pervert' as it was 'don't forget who I am and your status as my prisoner.' "It's good to see you up and about. See, Ellis, a little rest at room temperature's done wonders."

"It does seem to, as did that draught I gave her before I went to bed. Eat up, both of you. You'll need to keep your strength up and, I will do my best to answer any questions you might have," Ellis said, beginning to put out bread and fruit on the table. If she was nothing else, Psychro had to admit that she was an excellent cook.

"I want to know where we are," Psychro said, crunching into an apple.

"This is the planet of Equidarr as I told you last night. Long ago, eleven generations ago, my people lived on Plundarr with the rest of the Mutants. We were a peaceful people, who disliked the constant fighting between the various races. The other Mutants were jealous of our technological advances and angry with us, and tried to destroy us. In fear we fled, using our spaceships to fly further and faster than anything the others had. In time we found a world perfectly suited to our needs and landed there, populating it and building our cities. In the first few years, we occasionally encountered Mutants who had followed us, and we learned very quickly that if we were to have the peaceful lifestyle that we wanted, that we had to ensure that no outsider ever left to tell where we were," Ellis said. "I'm sorry, Raidash would tell it much better than I did, but I don't believe I left out anything important."

"You're saying we're stuck here?" Psychro blurted. She looked upset, and he knew the look at once. She had hoped that he would stay with her forever, and was now realizing he wouldn't. There were times when it wasn't so good to be handsome.

"I'm afraid so. You might be able to get a new ship, but our air force would surely catch you before you could get very far. It was only because I was in the area that I was able to spirit you away before they got there. I had to answer a lot of questions, and I want you both to realize that I could get in a lot of trouble if anyone finds out I harboured fugitives," Ellis actually looked fearfully out the window, an action Psychro had caught her doing the brief time they'd talked. Now it made sense.

"What do your people do with outsiders and those who help them?" Mandora asked, the law enforcer in her quickly producing similar laws on other planets and judging their sentencing structure against this one's.

"Death. The lawmakers feel that it serves as an adequate deterrent, but I've always found it to be unjust. We are simple people wanting to live a simple life, but we need that outside contact. We need to make allies and make friends, or enemies could destroy us. There are only a few thousand of us, and we'd have no chance against a proper Mutant invasion, if the legends about them are true," Ellis said. She rose and turned away from the duo.

"Once we're out of here," Mandora said, "the Control Force will make sure that everyone respects your desires to be left largely alone. We have a sizable military force at our disposal, and we're not afraid to use it to protect your people."

"Which still leaves the question of how you'll get away."

* * *

After breakfast Ellis left the two with strict instructions not to leave the house unless they had to while she tended to her orchard. From the living room window Psychro watched her work for a few minutes, while Mandora fiddled with her helmet, inspecting the dent and trying to gauge how difficult it would be to fix. With proper tools it wouldn't be too hard, but with what little lay around the house... "Nice girl," he commented aloud, receiving a snort from the evil chaser in response. "I mean it. She's taking a big chance by letting us stay with her, and it's all because of my rugged good looks."

"Only you would think that," Mandora said, concentrating on her work.

"It's a fact. She told me herself. She probably would have turned us over to the authorities if it wasn't for my looks. It's a curse. I find a planet full of women who've never heard of me and they fall over themselves wanting to sleep with me," he sighed melodramatically, and flopped down on the couch at the opposite end to her.

"One woman hardly constitutes your theory," she replied. "Besides, she might change her mind. We can't assume that our luck is going to hold."

"You're jealous!" her head snapped up and her green eyes seemed to pierce his skull. "You are, I can smell it. You don't like the competition so you're trying to play down her attraction. Don't worry, Manny, you'll always have a place in my bed." He moved closer and started to drape his arm around her shoulder. Quicker than he'd expected she had twisted it and forced him to the floor, placing her knee in the small of his back to hold him in place.

"We're in a difficult enough situation without you thinking with your crotch," she said crisply, finally getting up and allowing him to take his seat again on the couch.

"Alright then. Business before pleasure. What's your analysis of her then?" He rubbed his shoulder, making sure there was no damage done. Mandora was a trained professional, though. Her attacks were designed to incapacitate only, not inflict real hurt unless she needed to.

"She seems harmless enough, and her motives seem genuine. She's a healer of some sort, so it sounds reasonable to assume that her wanting to avoid deaths makes sense. She has put her life on the line, if the facts are true. I would like to see what kind of computer technology she has access to, to see if I can verify her story. Maybe a look at their laws. We've already violated one, by the sounds of it, by simply being here. I don't want to break any others."

Mandora walked back into the kitchen area and rummaged through the drawers until she found a small wooden mallet. It wasn't strong, but it might be enough to do the job. She gently, but firmly, began hammering the worst of the dent back into place, and cringed slightly when she saw Psychro coming towards her.

"Let me do that. I fix dents all the time, remember? I've got the knack for this kind of thing." He took the tools from her and went to work. "I'm curious though. You're big on this whole 'the law must be obeyed' thing. How do you justify not turning yourself in to accept their punishment? Aren't you suggesting that you're above their laws?"

"No one is above the law, especially not one who is supposed to uphold it," she recited automatically. It was her credo and she had lived by it for all her life. She didn't have a good answer to his question because she wasn't sure. Her conscience was warring with her self-preservation, and she was only barely able to stave off the one for the other's sake. "Once I have a good understanding of their laws, and can formulate a proper defence for my trial..."

He dropped his tools and grabbed her shoulders. It was only because there appeared to be nothing sexual or particularly threatening in the gesture that she didn't flatten him. "You're crazy, you know that? They're not going to give you a fair trial. They want their isolationism, and your admission of guilt is only going to cost us our lives. Tell me what Ellis did wrong? She rescued two injured people and nursed them back to health. And for that she will be put to death. That makes no sense to me, and I know it makes no sense to you either."

"No. But it's the law. No matter how unjust the laws..." he slapped her hard across the face and immediately walked away.

"If you want to be killed, be my guest, but leave us out of it," Psychro snarled as he walked back into the bedroom, leaving Mandora alone to consider what had just happened.

* * *

Present day.

"And she didn't flatten you?" A Royal Lunatak asked in disbelief.

"Apparently not. I think she was so surprised by it that she didn't know what to do about it. Either way, I'm not going to complain. When Ellis came back inside from doing her chores it was getting close to dinner time..."

* * *

Six weeks, one day ago

Dinner was more of the porridge, which was flavoured with something that reminded Mandora of peaches. One time, while visiting Third Earth on a routine patrol, the Thundercats had provided her with one. The Warrior Maidens knew of a grove of the trees and were more than happy to share. They had been quite succulent. Ellis informed them that she was going to go into the city tomorrow to drop some of her fruit off at the market and pick up some things. It was too dangerous for either of her guests to come with her, but if there was anything they needed she would be more than happy to see what she could do.

Mandora was the first to speak. "We need information, more than anything. Laws, history, technology, anything you can provide, really."

"I'll visit the library then, pick up a few books. I can't promise you anything. I don't read well, so I've never bothered with the things, but..." Ellis sighed, almost like she had admitted to some dirty secret. Mandora just hoped that the Equine written language wasn't too different from the Plundarrian standard. She'd noticed a few times during their conversations that some of the words would have different inflections or meanings from the Plundarrian dialects she was used to, and could tell that Psychro was having similar issues. Luckily her helmet, now that she could actually wear it, was able to do a lot of the translating for her.

Psychro, was oddly quiet. She detected a strange vibe off him, residue from their confrontation earlier in the day. He had come back and worked on her helmet, completely ignoring her singular attempt at continuing the conversation, as she tried to explain to him that her way was the right way. It seemed almost out of character for the man, but then she really didn't know all that much about him. They might well be executed together, though, and that was a strange thought. The Lunataks believed in gods, they claimed to have four of them, and some even claimed to have seen them face to face. Mandora never had. The belief in gods didn't fit well into her system of logic. Oh sure, it was plausible that there was some superior being or beings watching over them, but she couldn't fathom anyone watching over every single creature in the universe; it just wasn't practical. When she died, as far as she was concerned, she would be nothing more than worm food. She hoped she was wrong.

As they finished up their dinner, Psychro helped Ellis put away the food and clean the dishes, while Mandora pushed in the chairs. The sun was starting to set, and she gazed out the window at the few stars beginning to peek through the sky. Where was Control in all this? Would they be able to help?

* * *

The hours passed and Psychro paced the living room. He had insisted that he was well enough that he couldn't justify kicking Ellis out of her own bed, and Mandora was more than happy with the makeshift bed in the pantry, leaving him with the couch. He almost felt guilty about it, Mandora sleeping on the floor, but he was still angry enough at her not to bother. As a gentleman, it wasn't proper for a woman to have inferior sleeping accommodations than the man, which is what he had told Ellis. But Mandora...

How could anyone be so stubborn? She would rather die while upholding the law than live by running. It didn't make sense. He had rather enjoyed breathing, thank you very much, and if she turned herself in it would lead back here. There was his charm, he thought suddenly. He could change her mind about things. How light a sleeper was she, though? Could he get close enough to have a strong effect on her? He would have to make it sound like he was heading into the kitchen, for one thing, just in case she wasn't even asleep.

A second wicked thought hit him. When a person slept, they were more vulnerable. Not just physically, but mentally too. But should he risk it? What the heck, maybe sleeping with her would make her betrayal easier to swallow. He walked just softly enough that if she heard him, she would assume he was trying not to wake her up, and walked into the kitchen, as close to the door to the pantry as he dared.

"Psychro is right," he whispered, pouring his power into his words and thoughts, directing them at the evil chaser. "Giving up to the authorities is wrong. Staying alive is more important. And he is sexy."

There was no way of knowing if he'd succeeded or not. Not unless she said something obvious in the morning, but he'd done his part. He returned to the couch and sat down. He wasn't even aware that he'd fallen asleep until he felt a hand gently touching his arm. The touch was soft and light and, for a fleeting second, he thought it might be Mandora. When he opened his eyes, he saw Ellis' gentle face looking down at him longingly. He knew what she wanted, what she desperately wanted, and felt a conflict of his own emotions.

It had been a while since he'd had a sexual partner, since before Chilla had made her challenge, and his struggles to get Mandora out of her jumpsuit were only frustrating him more. There was also a sense of obligation. It was his looks that had caused her to save them, and to continue to risk her life. Mandora was right about one thing, there was no guarantee that Ellis wouldn't change her mind some day and turn them in, in exchange for a lighter sentence or something.

He'd never found Mutants overly attractive, other than that Reptilian, but then he had been drunk, but Ellis wasn't unattractive. Rather she was middle of the road. She was also waiting anxiously for him to respond, he could see, and he feared she would bolt in shame if he didn't. He took her hand and followed her into the bedroom, kissing her gently. "I'm a little nervous," he explained, to try and cover some of his hesitation.

"That's alright. You're not as big as most Equines, but you look incredible," she said, sliding her hands around his back and pulling him tightly against her chest. His pride couldn't help but be stung, he considered himself to be very well endowed, and she must have noticed because she whispered "I'm sorry," into his ear. Well, he would show her that it wasn't just size that mattered, not between the sheets, but how you used it.

* * *

Present day.

"You had sex weeth a horse?" Tug Mug said, clearly showing that while he might not have very high standards, he did have them.

"With a Mutant is more accurate, and that's only slightly better. Look, I did what I thought I had to do at the time, and truthfully she was very good, we agreed that I would spend half the night with her and the other half on the couch so that Mandora wouldn't suspect anything. She probably did anyway, but I almost hope she heard us through the walls," Psychro said. "This went on for almost a week; Ellis brought books home every day, and Mandora pored over them. I think her helmet has some kind of data storage system, so she was able to skim quickly and file the information away for later. My Plundarrian was better than hers, though, and I had to help her along the way. What's strange, though is that somehow through it all she began to become friendlier. I don't know if I was treating her differently because I wasn't so frustrated at my attempts or my powers or even something else, but she seemed more open."

* * *

Five weeks ago.

Mandora woke up feeling very strange. Truthfully, she hadn't been feeling normal since before the crash, and that worried her. Perhaps, she wondered, she had succumbed to some kind of head trauma. The last few nights she had been having intense dreams, reliving moments in her past of great anger, happiness, and sadness, but most disturbing of all were the more sensual dreams. She'd dreamed of that night with Dalien again, except this time it wasn't Dalien, it was Psychro. But why? Sure, Psychro was attractive, sure there was a lingering smell of sex around him, especially since she knew that he and Ellis were involved in such activities, but that couldn't be affecting her dreams. Her dreams had rarely invoked emotions in her before and now they seemed to be doing nothing but.

The chip! She scooped up her helmet from the floor and looked at where the dent had been. Yes, it was in the right spot. Which made some sense. If the chip were damaged then her body would have resumed its regular supply of hormones, and her brain's emotional centre would be opened up again. She'd spent so long without them that she didn't know how to control them anymore. She padded out in to the living room, seeing Psychro still fast asleep. His chest was bare, giving her a good chance to look at his hard abs, and muscular arms. Her eyes lingered down to where the blanket covered his groin and she wondered what he would look like without it... No! Mandora wrenched her head away and picked up the book she'd been reading from the end table and returned to the pantry. She needed to distract herself from that line of thinking before she did something incredibly foolish.

She was reading about the time of the exodus from Plundarr, and how their leader at the time, Wynd, had guided them to this perfect planet. Wynd had been a scientist before being thrust into a role as leader. She was, as most Mutant leaders tended to be, a large brawny creature, able to back up her words with might, but among her own people she had been respected for her wisdom. Unfortunately power corrupts, and paranoia began to take root. She barred outsiders from their world, and her successors built on that. The punishment for non-Equines changed from simply being unable to leave the planet to death. The arena they built for friendly tournaments soon became a killing field for outsiders and the local creatures.

Unfortunately, it was all too common a story. Mandora had read about similar atrocities on dozens of worlds in her time. Rulers always had blood on their hands, some just had more than others. Psychro was probably right. There would be no real justice here. There probably wouldn't even be a trial. They would be tossed into that arena and put to death. For all their preaching of peace and desiring isolation, she could see that the Equines really weren't that much different than the Mutants. In some ways, they were worse. At least the Mutants could acknowledge that they were ruthless, these people hid behind false morals and fake values.

Mandora put the book back down. So, then, trying to challenge the legal procedures wouldn't work, which left what other avenues? Negotiation from Control might work, threats of sanctions or even violence. Those would only work if she could manage to send a message through to Control and then stay hidden long enough for them to work out a deal. Escape? No, that didn't sit right with her. But what choice did she have. She believed firmly in the law always being right, even when it wasn't. Crimes had to be paid for, no matter what. But she didn't want to die, and certainly not as a criminal; that would be the ultimate shame.

She felt hands on her shoulders, firmly massaging, and glanced up to see Psychro there. It felt good, so she didn't immediately stop him. She had been bent over books for the last few days with very little chance to get any decent amount of exercise in, so she was more tense than she'd realized. At the same time, she knew she should stop him. If Mandora knew him at all, he was getting just as much out of it as she was, and he would see it as her coming around to him. Even if she was, a thought which she sternly ordered from her head, she didn't need him to know it. Let him think her cold and impassive a little longer. She stood and he stepped closer, now clearly in her personal space. His eyes were closed and his lips were slightly pursed. She knew what he wanted in payment. Instead of warm lips, however, he received a closed fist.

"Hey! What was that for?" he snapped, scowling and rubbing at his jaw.

"You know damn well what it was for," she didn't back down, and her stance showed that she would deck him again if she needed to. "You wanted a kiss and I've told you no."

"Come on. You gave me mixed signals. I thought maybe you might be grateful enough for the massage that I'd earned a kiss. A simple 'no thanks' would have done."

She did actually feel a little sorry. He was right. She should have just told him no and only hit him if he persisted. Damned if she'd let him know, though. "I didn't ask for one," she pointed out, "and the fact I didn't hit you for trying should have been payment enough."

"Any luck?" Ellis asked, her entrance dissolving the argument before it could escalate. She moved past the pair and fetched some dried fruit from a shelf. She seemed to feel it was her duty every day to prepare food for the two of them as well as taking care of her orchard. Mandora sensed that a part of her wanted the pair to escape, while the other part was hoping they'd have to stay. That Psychro would have to stay, anyway. Mandora was finding the Equine hard to read when it came to her opinions of the evil chaser, she was cordial enough, but there was an underlying sense that she knew who her competition was for Psychro's affections.

A brief stab of jealousy suggested she should tell Ellis all about Psychro's previous lovers and his reputation for not staying with them very long. But what would that do? Give her Psychro all to herself? Like that was something she wanted to deal with. "Not yet," she replied, "there's not a lot of options with regard to the legal route. If I could get to the Electrocharger, I might be able to access Control's frequency to get them to come to negotiate our freedom. At least that way we won't be fugitives from the law."

"Are you sure that would be a good idea?" Psychro asked. "I mean, what if the Equines refuse to give us up? What if they'd rather fight?"

"What they really want is to be left alone. If Control bothers them enough, it might be incentive enough."

"Or it might start a war. How many space worthy ships do your people have?" Psychro turned to Ellis, who was looking a little more nervous. The Electrocharger would be in the city, and getting Mandora into the right part of the city would be suicidal. She herself could probably get close, but not close enough.

"Not many. Maybe four? We have had little desire to explore or colonize, so we focussed on other things."

"Then they'll be older models. They won't be a match for anything Control has, which means the only trouble is getting in there. You know, I bet if I went along I might be able to hot wire one of those ships, I had to work on a bunch of Plundarrian clunkers in my time. If the technology hasn't changed that much then..."

"We're not stealing anything. Or sabotaging anything either," Mandora said. "Being wanted for trespassing is bad enough. I'm not adding any crimes to my record."

Ellis sighed reluctantly, understanding the scope of the problem more than the other two. "Let me think about it," she said, rushing back into the kitchen to prepare breakfast.

* * *

Basking in the afterglow of sex, Psychro lightly ran a hand through Ellis' hair. He was actually grateful that he'd given her a chance. She wasn't the best he'd ever had, but she was in the top ten percent. She was the opposite of his experiences with Royals. With them they were often skinny, short, and delicate little flowers, which was fine most of the time. But Ellis... she had raw power in her arms and legs, she could keep up with him, and it made their lovemaking more invigorating. He was reaching a point with her, though, which he had long recognized in himself. He was getting bored of it. Sure, the sex was wonderful, but it was getting routine seeing the same flesh every day, and there was no challenge in it.

That was half of why he womanized. If the catch was too easy it sapped the fun. And if he was starting to get to that point now, then he would have to get off this planet, or else hope that there was another Equine woman who would take him in. It wasn't likely. "Ellis?" he murmured, shifting from the long thick hair that ran down the back of her neck to the finer hair of her back. She turned to her other side and stared into his face. "I think Mandora's right. The longer we stay here, the greater the risk we'll be found. I don't want anything bad to happen to you because of me."

"I know," she replied, burying her muzzle in his chest. She had known that this was going to happen someday, and been praying it wouldn't be for a long time. But she knew he was right. She'd barely staved off the investigators, who were still combing the land for the occupants of the crashed ships. Raidash had told her that there were plenty of rumours in the city about where they might have gone. "Tomorrow, then. I think I might be able to get you two into the city. But there's a condition. When you leave, you have to take me with you."

His body tensed, impossible for her not to notice given her location. "There's nowhere safe for you outside this world. Not where I'm going, not to my home. How do you think the Mutants of Plundarr are going to react having a Horse Mutant on their doorstep. They'll hunt you down," he said. He chose not to mention that he wasn't really interested in a long term relationship with her anyway.

"Then we won't go to your home. We'll find a new world," she pleaded.

"Ellis. I love you, I really do, but I have friends and family there, just as you do here. We both knew this wasn't going to last from the beginning. You will always have a special place in my heart but the fates conspire against us. Whenever I look into the night sky I will look towards this planet and wonder if maybe, just maybe, you are looking up, thinking of me," he whispered. It was an old speech, one he'd first used on a Darkling woman named Phantella.

Psychro usually meant every word he said, and did occasionally look up at the sky and wonder how many of the women he'd told it to actually were thinking of him. As often happened when he said it, Ellis pushed him on to his back for one last night of passion.

* * *

Present day.

"Wait a minute. You used that one on me!" Artemin said. Psychro hadn't even realized that was present until she spoke, and remembered vividly their night together. Her brother hadn't been home, being on guard duty, and they had had their tryst. He'd used the speech to claim that she wouldn't enjoy living with him on the Ice moon. She had agreed, at the time. Now he wondered if he should be using fresher material.

"Of course I did, but I meant it when I said it to you. I just needed something that would get Ellis to understand that she couldn't come with me," he replied smoothly. Luckily Artemin wasn't very bright and bought it. He refilled his beer glass and resumed.

* * *

Four weeks, six days ago.

The next morning Ellis was the first one up, as she often was. She had been thinking of a way to get both Psychro and Mandora into the city. As she had told them, it would be dangerous for them because if they got caught it would mean the death of them all. She had seen some of the executions and they were bloody things. An unarmed creature claiming to be from the Planet of the Mimes had been forced into combat against a dozen trained soldiers. He had put up a decent fight, especially since he had been stripped of weapons, but the outcome was inevitable. She supposed that it was possible that she could send them off without an escort and hope they didn't divulge her name, but she couldn't do that. Not to Psychro.

Ah Psychro. The source of so many of her problems. She was a little upset that he was leaving her, but she had known from the moment she pulled his body from the wreckage that theirs was a relationship that couldn't last. Heck, at the time she hadn't even known if he would live through the night, let alone feel anything for her. It had been worth it, though. Now all she needed to do was pull off the impossible.

Most disguises were out, with the unique Equine face neither of them would be believable, not without extensive plastic surgery. But there was no surgeon in the city that she would trust enough to do it. She could hide them in her wagon when she went to market, but they were subject to random searches. Raidash was so much smarter at this kind of thing, she would know what to do, Ellis thought to herself, but then Raidash would never have gotten into this situation in the first place. She agreed that the Equines needed to branch out, establish relations with other cultures, but she was too much of a coward at heart.

An idea came to her. The city was basically flat with only a few roads leading into it. All they really had to do was bypass the guards monitoring those roads. Crossing through the plains on foot was still an option. Once they were in the city the chances of being stopped decreased dramatically. They would be visible from a distance though, so they would need to keep low to the ground to avoid being easily spotted.

* * *

"So then I will go into the city with my fruit, kept under a tarp, and meet you on the outskirts. You'll slip into the cart and I can take you as close as possible to the government laboratory, which is where your motorcycle will be," she explained once Psychro and Mandora had joined her in the kitchen. Both of them had looked over a map of the city that Ellis had provided, and they hadn't thought of any better options. There was great risk no matter what they did, and it was in their favour to have some kind of transportation.

Mandora and Psychro had taken opposite approaches to their thinking, however. The evil chaser was of the opinion that civilians shouldn't be involved in this, that part of her job was to protect anyone she could from harm. She didn't even want Psychro with her, but also knew that he was her responsibility. There was only slightly more danger in him running around loose than if he was with her. She knew that if she was tortured she could hold out, though, and that Ellis' name would never cross her lips, the Icewalker/Psion hybrid on the other hand... He would probably sing if it meant saving his neck. That, in a nutshell, was why Mandora eventually consented to Ellis' helping out.

Psychro, for his part, was used to taking advantage of situations. If Ellis was willing to help then he was willing to use her. It was one of the reasons he was still alive. Having a beautiful woman distract her raging father while he threw on his pants and fled was an asset that he had used on more than one occasion. So, every one of his plans, when he was thinking about them, involved the Horse Mutant in some way. Of course, about half his plans involved committing sabotage without Mandora knowing about it. He, unlike her, had no qualms about doing something illegal in order to survive. But would he be able to sneak away from Mandora long enough to do it? That was one of those areas where Ellis fit in.

"It's not perfect," Mandora shrugged. "My helmet has a jamming field built in, which should prevent us from being detected by radar. You'd be surprised how many criminal hideouts have some kind of radar equipment."

"Good. I'll drive you close to the city, then, and you'll slip out. I think this area here is our best bet. It's a run down neighbourhood and people have learned to look the other way," she said, pointing at the map.

Mandora shook her head. "People like that are also likely to turn on you if they think there's a profit to be made. Besides, someone might question why a fruit truck is going in that neighbourhood. This area here is close to the market. There's a mechanic's shop on the corner, right at the edge of the city. If you stopped to pick up a spare tire, we would have plenty of time to get in, and people would be less inclined to comment on it."

"Hnh. I hadn't thought about that. It makes sense. Okay then, I'll go load up my cart and you guys help yourselves to anything you think you might need."

* * *

A few hours later the trio was ready to go. Ellis had loaded up her cart, towed by a small car, and left a cramped area in the middle for the two outsiders to sit in. It wouldn't be the most pleasant of rides, but it beat the alternative. The two clambered in, taking a quick look around at the scenery. The immediate area was largely flat, populated here and there by trees of varying sorts. In the distance was another house, one that doubtless belonged to the Raidash that Ellis mentioned every now and then, but Ellis had positioned the cart in such a way that they would be invisible if anyone was looking out that house's windows.

The seating was, as she'd predicted, uncomfortable, and it was made worse by having Psychro squished in next to her. She could feel the coolness of his body against her and smell the sweaty odour that seemed to permeate from him. That was one of the drawbacks for Icewalkers, she had been told, they tended to sweat more than the other races because their bodies were accustomed to much cooler climes. His Psion blood made it less so, but she found herself wondering how much that hurt him on the Ice Moon.

"Hey, you ever done it in the back of a fruit truck?" he asked, somewhat predictably. She had been braced for it, and actually found herself snickering at the blatant innuendo.

"That was pathetic, even for you," she chided. The words had little bite to them, however. The whole situation was far too laughable to be even remotely sexual. They were at great risk of being tortured and killed, they were jammed in the back of a cart surrounded by fruit, and the woman he was sleeping with was not very far away.

"You should try it some time. It's not that bad," he said.

She decided to call his bluff. "Who was she then?" She turned her head and stared into his eyes. The eyes never lied, no matter how hard the perpetrator tried.

"Anaela of House Snoeflay. It was a rainy day, and the two of us were visiting the Dark Moon. As you know, it rains there a lot and when it rains, it pours. Anyway, we were feeling very amorous at the time. So then I see this truck dropping off fruit at a restaurant, and I hear the driver say something to the owner of the restaurant that he's going to wait out the storm by having a beer. Anaela and I looked at each other and I could see we both thought the same thing. We opened his truck and started going at it. Took a little longer than we should have, because we had to jump out when he started driving again, but I tell ya, I'll never look at blueberries the same way again," he replied. It was after she'd left back for the Ice Moon that he had encountered Phantella and decided to prolong his stay on the moon.

"That sounds... very unhygienic. I'm sure that must be a health code violation of some kind," Mandora said after a pause. She'd assumed he was lying, she'd hoped he was lying, she was... curious what they'd done with blueberries but didn't really want to know. Either way, she realized that their own cart was moving and wondered how long it would take to reach the city. She pulled the map out of her pocket and examined it. She knew where they were, and the road they planned to take, so she began calculating. It would be about an hour. A long time under these conditions, but doable.

"So you're not interested then. Your loss."

* * *

Mandora's estimate was correct. Three minutes shy of an hour they felt the cart come to a stop at the side of the road. Then the tarp was pulled aside as Ellis peered inside. The road they had taken was a quiet one, with very few vehicles going by. She pretended that she was looking for something inside the back and, when the coast was clear, gestured for the two of them to slip out. "I'll meet you at the auto yard in about an hour. Good luck," she whispered as they vanished into the tall grass.

* * *

The grass was long, growing up just past their knees, meaning they had to crawl low to navigate through the field. Mandora took the lead, ignoring a comment from Psychro about getting to watch her ass the whole way, as her sense of direction was better. Her helmet also enhanced her vision, hopefully allowing her to spot trouble long before it spotted them. The going was slow and tedious, but they were both in reasonably good shape, so they made excellent time.

As they went, Mandora realized something. In all the books there was almost nothing about other species living on this planet. Even here there was no evidence of any kind of insect or small mammal living among the grasses. Ellis' food hadn't contained any meat, but she had just assumed that might be a hold over of the Equine's previous life on Plundarr, or a personal preference on Ellis' part. But now it was sounding more curious. Was this somehow an extension of their xenophobia? It was something to make note of and inquire about later if she got the chance.

Finally, with twenty minutes to spare, she saw a chain link fence in the distance. She gestured for Psychro to stay put and then raised her head slightly out of the grass. Broken ships of every sort dotted the enclosed area, and a large slate gray building sat in the centre. Her helmet's infrared scanners told her that there was only one person outside the building, but the building itself was impossible to read. That meant Ellis wasn't there yet. What if something had happened to her? What if she were delayed? Judging by the scenery, getting in would be easy, but staying hidden from sight would be harder the longer they stayed.

"How fast can you climb a fence?" she asked, turning her head to meet Psychro's.

"Pretty fast," he replied.

"Right. Angry fathers. There's only one person outside, and I'm going to use my boomerang to distract them. There's a wreck I think we can hide in until Ellis gets here. We'll only have a few seconds, so we'd better make them count," she said. The boomerang could be controlled remotely, but the average person wouldn't chase it for long. Timing was critical to the success of the mission. They moved closer, and Psychro shuffled next to her. The fence was probably three strides away, and it was as close as they dared.

Mandora scanned the area once more, to make sure there were no other visible people, and hurled the boomerang one way while she and Psychro sprinted to the fence and vaulted over. The wreck she'd selected was obvious right away, it was missing a door on the side facing them, and seemed to have plenty of room in the back. Provided it wasn't needed for anything, it would suit their purposes. She made it there first, and clambered into the back. Psychro practically landed on top of her, earning him a brief scowl, and they waited for Ellis to show up.

* * *

'Resteam's Fix &amp; Wrecks' the sign said as Ellis pulled up to the gate. It hadn't occurred to her before to ask just how she would find Psychro and the evil chaser, so she hoped it would be obvious. That assumed, of course, that they had even gotten here safely. For the last hour or so of driving through the gate and along the streets she had been expecting to hear some grim news about them, especially when a radio report indicated that an outsider ship had been spotted entering the atmosphere. She climbed out of her car and was stopped by a dark green stallion with a light green mane, he was carrying in one hand a white curved stick, one she recognized immediately as belonging to Mandora. "What's that?" she asked, pointing at it. She figured that if he'd taken it off the evil chaser that he would admit to it.

"This? I dunno. Went whizzing past me a while ago, finally caught the damn thing. Can I help you? The name's Resteam, this is my yard," he said, shoving it under his belt.

"I'd just like to look around. Always good to have a few spare parts lying around. You never know when your car's going to break down," she said, using the lie she had been rehearsing. Without knowing where the two would be hiding, it would be impossible to ask for a specific part. Besides, if he volunteered to help, then he might spy them. "Looks like you've got some Tonkoya's over there at the back I should look at."

"If you need any help, I'm around," he said, waving her on.

That had been quick thinking. Of course if Mandora and Psychro were hiding it would be near the back where they came in. The Tonkoya's back there might provide ample hiding spots. Carefully, slowly, she drove her car around to where they were and began poking around, looking inside each car. When she found them they were lying side by side and she found that her heart ached looking at it. Only last night she had been that close to Psychro, only last night had been erotic. The look on Mandora's face said this wasn't. Once the pair were in position she continued to drive over to where Resteam was waiting. "You don't have the right year for me. Do you think you'll get access to a '42 engine any time soon?"

"A '42? Those are rare, ma'am. Tell you what, though. If I find one I'll set it aside for you," he said. She handed over her name and number as a formality and pulled out of the lot. That was one problem down, and more to go.

* * *

The streets of the city were wide, designed so that multiple vehicles could travel alongside each other. This part of town was what one would consider a middle class neighbourhood. Low flat houses lined the road with the occasional store for variety. The buildings were generally made of stone, and were decorated in many different colours.

Ellis had been down these streets dozens of times, but never had she felt this uncomfortable in them. Equines preferred wide open spaces to cramped quarters and heights. It did make her wonder how her kin had gotten into spacecrafts and come to this planet in the first place. It was this desire to be apart from others that had led her and many others to settle further from the city, to live on spacious farms, and keep contact with others at a minimum.

Of course, this time it wasn't simple claustrophobia that had her nerves on edge. The fugitives hiding in the back of her cart were reason enough to be concerned. Security was noticeably heightened along the normally peaceful avenues. With the mysterious ship in their atmosphere, the fear of outsider invasion was heightened, she assumed. Could Psychro and Mandora get to their ship before it was too late?

She slowed her car down as the building they were looking for drew nearer. The science and technology building was the third largest building in the city, rivalled only by the military headquarters and the parliament building. That was the only building in the city that was taller than two storeys, rising a good ten into the sky. At the pinnacle was a large circular room that had windows pointing in every direction, where the leaders of the Equines would sit and discuss whatever needed to be discussed.

She pulled into the laneway reserved for deliveries and saw, much to her relief that there was no one around. Luck wouldn't be on their side forever, though, so she quickly hopped out and helped the two aliens clamber out. "There's a door for receiving there, but there are probably all kinds of people inside," Ellis said a little fearfully. They had a general layout of the lab, but there was no way of telling exactly where the Electrocharger would be.

"We'll climb on to the roof," Mandora said with all the calm and authority of one who has been in worse situations and knows that panicking will only make things harder. "I can communicate with the Electrocharger remotely, I can pinpoint it more precisely from up there."

Ellis knew it would be risky. Any craft flying overhead would spot them immediately. "Go then. I'll park my car and meet you up there." Anyone spotting the car just parked in the receiving lane might draw attention to it, they might run the plates and get her name too. Psychro and Mandora bolted for the closest wall and began to scale up it, leaving Ellis alone to her task.

* * *

"I swear I've spent half the day on my hands and knees," Psychro grumbled. They weren't sure just how visible they were from the street, or if that street had much in the way of traffic, so they decided to play it safe and crawl along. The roof was flat and covered with gravel, which made their travel a little more awkward. There was an air conditioning unit on the roof with them and a service hatch, presumably to access the unit. This was where they would need to enter from. There was no comment from the evil chaser, however, and she continued crawling towards it. "Oh come on. No dirty remarks? You know if you'd said something like that I'd have been all over it."

"Then it's a good thing I didn't say it," Mandora replied. Her infrared scanner didn't go too far through the roof, but she could make out a basic lay out of the building from here. The Electrocharger was in one of the labs, surrounded by at least three people. What they would need was a diversion.

"Cause I would totally have said something like 'oh yeah, that's how I like my women.' It was as open as I'd like your legs," he said. This got a reaction. "Don't hit me!" he said, in a heartbeat pouring as much of his charming energy at her as he could.

"It's not worth it," she said, whether because of the charm or despite it he didn't know. "It might be hard for you to breathe quietly with a broken nose. Okay. The hatch looks like it goes down into an empty room. I'll go first, you wait at the top of the ladder for Ellis to catch up. Be ready to move, though, just in case we get company."

"A broken nose might be worth it if you kissed it better," he was about to say, but figured he'd pushed his luck with the previous remark. Her resolve was chipping away, he could tell, and it wouldn't take too much effort to sway her completely. But he had to be careful, his future with her hung by a single thread, and it wouldn't take much for that thread to snap. "Sure thing, Manny," he said instead.

She didn't correct him, she'd long since given up trying to get him to stop calling her that. At least it was better than the threatened Mandorable that he'd mentioned. Mandora climbed down the ladder and found herself in a room that was only about two metres wide. There was a solid wooden door, a few spare filters and nothing else. She glanced up to make sure Psychro was still in position but sheltered and wished she hadn't. He was standing in such a way that his rear end was fully exposed to her view, intentionally no doubt. And he caught her looking too, which in itself was infuriating. She tried to look disgusted and returned to scanning outside the room for any signs of life. People were walking by, but no one seemed particularly interested in coming in.

Then she heard heavy footfalls from up above, and saw Psychro sticking his head out the hatch and waving his arms. The footfalls became lighter and then, very faintly, she could hear shuffling. "Did something right," she thought at Psychro. Ellis had, no doubt, been running to get to them and he had told her to get down and keep quiet. Maybe he wasn't nearly as useless as he seemed. Soon the three were gathered at the foot of the ladder and the hatch was closed.

Mandora waited until the coast seemed to be clear and poked her head out through the door. Good, still no one. The hallway extended in both directions. To the right it ended at a door that led to an oval chamber of some kind, since it didn't have the Electrocharger, she wasn't concerned. The route to the left went around the corner and past several rooms. It was the fifth door that would lead to the hall they needed. She walked ahead of the other two, moving briskly and actually found herself praying that their luck would hold out a little longer.

It didn't. They were just rounding the bend when one of the doors up ahead burst open, and a dozen foot soldiers poured out into the hallway brandishing long guns. Mandora turned to retreat but saw a door behind them likewise empty of soldiers. And they'd been so close too. With nothing else to do, short of dying in the hallway instead, the trio surrendered.

* * *

"So," a tall black stallion dressed in dark red robes said as he looked at the prisoners. "You thought you could break in undetected? Our roof hatch has an alarm built in, stupids, we knew you were coming. I expect such things from outsiders, but you? One of our own?" He walked a few paces to look Ellis in the eye.

"These are my friends, and I will gladly die with them to fight our unjust laws," she said defiantly.

"Oh please. You're no friend. You were just a piece of meat for me to screw," Psychro said, shocking all three of the others. "I figured I had to do it to keep you from telling everyone we were on your planet. Heck, I started seducing you the minute you found our crashed ship. If I'm going to be tried and executed I might as well die an honest man. I had my way with you, but it was easily some of the worst sex I've ever had, and believe me honey, you weren't the first."

Mandora picked up on what Psychro was doing instantly, though the two Equines seemed oblivious. "I'm sorry you had to hear it this way, Ellis. He's always been like that. He's been trying to get me to sleep with him for a month. Heck, he had sex with my sister just to catch my attention. He goes through women like he goes through underwear. The only difference is that he treats his underwear with some respect."

"What?" Ellis looked on the verge between sobbing and lashing out. Psychro wanted the latter. He knew that the Equine courts were more likely to go easy on her if she appeared to be the innocent who was vilely corrupted by aliens.

"Hey, I treat women how they deserve to be treated. At least Ellis is good for a few seconds of sex. What good are you? You got us into this mess. Even a nag like her knew to shut up and take it." The stallion stood gape-mouthed, shocked to hear such words spilling out of Psychro's mouth. He was about to demand that the Lunatak speak more kindly when Ellis roared and tackled her former lover, fists pounding on him while Mandora helpfully pinned his shoulders.

"Guards! Separate them. Take this one to her own cell, see that she's treated like a lady deserves. The two aliens will stand trial as soon as the council is ready for them."

With some difficulty, a pair of stallions, one green and one a chestnut brown, pulled Ellis off of Psychro and proceeded to drag her down the hall. Once they were gone Psychro pulled himself back into a sitting position on the narrow bed and checked for injuries. There would be significant bruising all over his chest and face, but there didn't seem to be anything critical. He smiled wryly at Mandora. "Good acting," he whispered.

"Is it, though? It's not a stretch to think that it's true. Women are just nameless creatures, a place to put your penis. You might have spared Ellis an execution, but there's truth in there," Mandora replied, moving over to him to help look for injuries.

"Do you really think that? You can judge me like that?" The words were harsher than he'd intended, and he see an actual hurt look flash across Mandora's face. "I don't enter relationships with the intention of them failing. Most of the time, I think I might actually have found the right one, the one who lead me from my ways, who I can raise a family and grow old with. Back home I've got a notebook with precious memories of each one. I've got their name, race, and any other information I can remember. When I'm feeling down I'll just look back and reminisce. And when I just want a fling I'm brutally honest; your sister was like that. I told her flat out what my intentions were, that I was using her to get to you, and you know what? She didn't care. She said that you could use a good lay. Why do you think she bragged to you about me? All carefully planned."

It was true, Mandora knew at once. She had made her career picking up on slight fluctuations in people when they were lying and he wasn't lying. The facts clicked into place and she felt a twinge of guilt over judging him like that. "And what about me? What happens after we have sex? Do you see me as the woman who will bear your children?" her voice was still a whisper, but now softer and without the accusation that it had held before.

He looked away. "No. Look, you are a beautiful woman, and I've wanted you from the day I met you. But no, it's not a long term thing. The truth is that the woman of my dreams, the one woman I am positive is right for me, challenged me. Chilla told me that if I could get you to sleep with me, she would go out with me. I guess it's not going to happen either way, now. That court's going to put us to death and I didn't even get remotely close to you." He swallowed hard, watching her for a reaction. He knew from experience that many women wouldn't like hearing that, not as bluntly as he'd put it, but Mandora was different. Lying to her didn't feel like the right thing to do to an officer of the law. She leaned forward suddenly and kissed him full on the lips, almost so suddenly as though she had to do it before she changed her mind.

"There. Now you've gotten close," she whispered and turned away.

He didn't know when the jailer would come, but right now he felt like he could take on the world. He was one step closer to having Mandora, which meant one step closer to having Chilla.

* * *

Present day

"She kissed you?" Another Graviton hollered. There were now at least twenty people gathered around the table, including two women that he had slept with before. Tug Mug still possessed the only other chair at the table.

"Oh yeah, tongue and everything. I tell ya, if I hadn't been there myself, I wouldn't have believed it. Our trial would have to wait, though. What we didn't know at the time was that Reptos had followed our trail and figured what planet we had landed on. The Equines were none too thrilled to find a Mutant ship on their doorstep and promptly shot it down. I guess the trial for Mutants takes precedence over Lunataks and humans. Still, that only delayed things by a day. The next afternoon..."

* * *

Four weeks, five days ago.

Why had she done it? The question still rattled around her brain as Mandora sat in the cell, eating a watered down porridge. They had been given no utensils, and a guard kept careful watch to make sure they didn't try to fashion the bowl into a weapon of some kind. Of course, with her knowledge of fighting arts, she didn't really need any weapons. That kiss had been impulsive, foolish, and only encouraged his lewd behaviour. Even if it felt wonderful. That one kiss had sent her stomach spinning and her brain craved more of it. If that was what he could do with just one kiss... No. She was an evil chaser. Upholder of the law. Fraternisation with criminals was strictly against policy.

Besides, they wouldn't have time for sex. Not with a trial coming up and death waiting in the wings. As if on cue, a group of ten soldiers of varying colours came to the cell door. The leader, the black stallion in red they'd seen the previous day, gestured for them to get up and follow him.

He led them through the cell block and through the large government building up to the court room. This room was directly below where the council met, though neither prisoner knew that. The stallion took his place beside the two other judges. Mandora had been in numerous courts before, there was a basic structure to them that served to remind the prisoners that they were in judgement, and who held their fate in their hands. The three judges sat high above them, looming down like vultures waiting for their prey to die, while a small crowd of people watched from behind a force fielded wall. Like some courts she'd been in there were no lawyers present, which likely meant that the judges would fill both rolls.

Psychro, she saw, was distracted. She followed his gaze and saw that Ellis was present too, sitting in a deep crimson box. That seemed to be the colour scheme, this dark red, which wasn't highly unusual; many courts had a unifying colour. Ellis' presence was odd though, would she be testifying or had Psychro's display not been enough? Her attention was drawn back to the judges as a gong was rung. "State your names for the court," the black stallion said, his voice resonating throughout the room.

"I am evil chaser first class Mandora, Interplanetary Control Force."

"And I am Psychro, sire of House Myntaello of the Ice Moon of Plundarr."

A ripple went through the crowd. They knew of Plundarr, they had captured and tried four Mutants of Plundarr the previous day. "You are from Plundarr?" a white mare, seated to the left of the black stallion, asked.

"Well, technically I'm from the moons. I'm a Lunatak," he said. The crowd murmured louder at the revelation. As Ellis had told him that first night, Lunataks were creatures of myth and legend, designed to scare children into obedience. They were said to snatch unruly children in the middle of the night if they weren't in bed asleep. And children who spoke rudely to their parents might find a Lunatak cutting off their tongues. In the end Psychro wasn't sure if this reputation was better than that of the hated Mutants, but he figured it would have been discovered sooner or later.

"A Lunatak? Interesting. You are both charged with being outsiders on our world and with corrupting one of our own with your lies. How do you plead?" a light blue stallion to the right of the black one asked.

"What difference does it make? You're going to execute us either way," Psychro thought bitterly to himself. Still, he wasn't the one who had been studying the laws and customs of this planet. He was much better off letting Mandora handle things. Besides he had more important things to worry about, like Ellis. He was trying to read her expression, but the elongated face was not one he was used to. He thought he saw a faint smouldering of hatred in those eyes though and that was upsetting. He had hoped that she would realize what kind of game he'd been pulling, that he'd only lashed into her for the sake of buying her freedom. It did seem to have worked.

"Your honours," Mandora began, picking her words carefully from what it sounded, "we wish to plead that, while it is true we are outsiders on your world and perhaps we did things with regard to Ellis that we should not have done, but our motives are innocent."

"They always pick innocent," the blue stallion muttered, though loudly enough that the accused could hear it. "Explain your motives for the court then."

"Gladly." She did seem relieved to at least have the chance to present their case, rather than being given an automatic sentencing. Psychro didn't find it quite as reassuring, but figured that if anyone could get them out of this, it was Mandora. "Your honours, we came to this planet by accident, fleeing from a Mutant warship, as they had attacked us unprovoked. All we want is to leave and we swear never to discuss your planet to anyone."

* * *

Present day.

"Aren't you violating that by telling us?" Tug Mug asked, wondering at the same time how he'd managed to get nacho cheese in his hair. It didn't really matter, he supposed, it just provided him with a snack later if he wanted.

"Don't worry, I'm getting to that. Hey these wings are a little bland, got any suicide sauce for them?" Psychro said. Even as he spoke a tiny bowl of thick red sauce appeared at his elbow.

* * *

Four weeks, five days ago.

"On the other hand, I have an offer to make," Mandora said. The three judges rolled their eyes but waved her to continue. Their reaction was ominous but she had to try anyway. "The organization I'm part of, the Interplanetary Control Force, is a police organization that operates throughout the universe. We have great sway over the peoples of other worlds and would be willing to work towards helping you keep your planet free of outsiders. We would declare your planet off limits and ensure that the rule was enforced. No planet is alone in this universe. I can think of several races that would try to enslave your world if they knew about it and, without our help, you would surely fall. I've seen it happen on more than one occasion. Also with our help we would provide you with medical and food supplies when needed. Control is there to help peoples like yourself."

"An impassioned plea," the white mare noted. "But we have no interest. You may think our people are weak, but we are stronger than you know. Look around. We have little crime, everyone has all they need..."

"Oh really. The way I see it is you're ruling through fear. The penalty for just existing is death. I think people are just too afraid to do anything wrong. You sit up there all high and mighty just because you were born to different parents than I was," Psychro said.

"Shut up," Mandora hissed.

"Shall we turn then to your treatment of Ellis then?" the black stallion scowled. "She told me everything; how she took the two of you in, nursed you back to health, and how you promptly slept with her to save your own neck. Are these the actions of a civilized people? People we want to associate ourselves with? You probably haven't studied our race much, but we treat our women with respect on Equidarr."

Mandora grabbed Psychro's arm hard to prevent him from answering. "Psychro is an aberration, a different culture. A culture, mind you, that is not so different from how yours was years ago. He might not have studied your past, but I have. You were descended from the common Mutant race, but you evolved past that. You became the people you are today through wise leadership and social reforms. I can see clearly that your people aren't the same anymore, there is respect towards everyone, but there is still room for growth. You demand respect from Psychro, that he respect your women, but I tell you that he is showing you the same respect that you show us. You're no better than we are in that vein."

The black stallion looked startled. "You are clearly the most intelligent outsider we've had on this world. Indeed, were you an Equine I could see us being friends and having many healthy debates. It almost saddens me that your fate was sealed long before you came in here, though we will think long about what you said. If you survive, I would talk further with you."

"If we survive?" Psychro sputtered. He hadn't realized there was a chance.

"That's right. The penalty is realistically death, but there is a chance. Outsiders must fight a large number of Equine soldiers. Anyone who is still alive at the end is allowed to leave the world untouched. However, no one has ever lived," Mandora replied without looking over.

"Very good. Your interest in the legal system shows. You and the four Mutants we captured yesterday will be held in the prison below until the celebration of our arrival on Equidarr festival in three days. You will each compete in tests of skill and combat. Ellis herself will be given the chance to avenge her defilement by meeting Psychro in combat. She, along with four others will be armed; Psychro will not. Mandora, you will likewise fight five combatants. Take them away," the blue stallion announced.

* * *

These weren't the same cells. These were cells that opened directly into the open air arena. There were two of them, one containing the Mutants and the other Psychro and Mandora. The cells were reasonably clean, though they stank of the sweat and fear of countless victims, and the prisoners were taken care of. Food was supplied, and the bedding was in decent repair. While Mandora inspected the cell, admiring the handiwork no doubt, rather than looking for some way out, Psychro sat on his bed and thought about what was to come.

He had fought women before, even ones he'd slept with. He had had women whom he had been open with, had told that he was looking for a one-night stand, become upset because they had been under the belief that they could change his mind. Truthfully, women like that were never nearly as good in bed as they thought; they just seemed to be trying too hard and he'd learned to detect that a mile away. Ellis was different. She was angry because she didn't realize what he was doing for her, that he really did care about her and that's why he'd said all those things. But then, explaining it to her would only make the fight less convincing. He genuinely felt bad about her, as he did most of the time, and she would never know it.

The gender of his opponent really didn't matter as long as he was focussed. More than once a bouncing breast or too much thigh had distracted him long enough to be caught, and that was something he had to remind himself of. No, the gender didn't matter, the skill did. He was best described as a brawler, beating up the type of person one might find inebriated in a bar. Soldiers were trickier, soldiers weren't addled by liquor and generally knew a thing or two about tactics. He would have to move quickly if he wanted to survive.

Mandora finally settled down on the bed next to him. "These Equines are formidable fighters," she spoke in a low voice. They weren't sure if there were any listening devices, and they certainly weren't inclined to give their Mutant neighbours any tips. "They're fast, strong, and they've got better endurance than either of us."

"Thanks for the pep talk," he said, sighing heavily.

"Listen to me. They are all those things, but they can be beaten. There's a reason most people lose, and that's because they don't go in there with the right mind set, they're beaten long before they set foot in the arena. I'm going to win my match because I believe I can. The Equines have weaknesses. Their eye sight is limited, for example, and their legs can be crippled. That's where you'll want to attack."

Psychro glanced towards the other cell and heard whimpering from the pair of Jackalmen. He understood what Mandora was getting at. Confidence was a big part of winning a fight, it was the same attitude he took when courting a woman. His powers. He still had his powers. While they wouldn't be terribly effective over the long haul, they might help him sneak a shot in or two which could make all the difference in the world. "Wait a minute," he said. "Why are you helping me? It can't be because of that busted tail light. You like me, I should have realized it from that kiss but you really like me."

"Don't get an inflated ego, buster," she said. "I need you alive because you're a good mechanic and I don't know what shape the Electrocharger is. I tried accessing its systems and I couldn't get very far. You're more likely to be able to repair it than I am."

Or maybe it didn't mean anything. Maybe he'd looked pathetic enough that she'd kissed him out of pity. That wasn't an emotion he'd have used on Mandora before, but she seemed very little like the stories he'd heard of her. Actually, she seemed much different ever since the crash. "And what's in it for me? I go from here directly to another court, not really to my benefit, is it."

"You want incentive? Your life isn't motivation enough? Fine. I will sleep with you if we both get out of here alive. Does that make you happy? Is that where you were taking it?" she snapped a little louder than she'd intended.

"I'll take that deal too, yes?" Reptos sneered.

"I'd make her have sex with me now, if we were sharing the same cell," Geckren added.

Psychro walked over to the bars and glared daggers at the Mutant, the cells were too far apart for him to reach him, but he would have if he could. "Shut it, Reptile, or I'll ask for a warm up match against you pathetic thugs." He walked back over to the other bed.

* * *

Mandora watched the overly macho display. She could have handled the Mutant himself, but hadn't felt like wasting the energy. Besides, she was too stunned by her own offer to do much else. Why had she said something so foolish? It couldn't just be the influx of hormones racing through her system, it had to be something more. Whatever it was, it was made worse by the damage to her chip, with it she would have been able to block her lust.

But would she have been able to make quite so impassioned a speech before the judges? Certainly the facts wouldn't have changed, but it had been the delivery of them that had swayed the one judge to her side. Would they have gotten a lighter sentence? Heavier? Would it, in fact, have made any difference at all.

Would the offer, she suddenly thought, serve as a motivation to herself? Now that was an interesting question, and the answer depended greatly on whether or not she really wanted to sleep with the Lunatak. As she had noted, he was physically very attractive, but did she really want to stoop to some one night fling? Was she content to be just another notch on his bed post? And did she really want anything more than that? Hers was a life spent travelling the cosmos, going from planet to planet in the pursuit of justice. She had a home but she rarely stayed there. She barely saw friends or family outside of the rare day off. She had very few possessions. There was little time in her life to be either wife or mother. It just wasn't her.

The lights in the narrow corridor began to dim, signalling that they were being forced to sleep, so Mandora curled up on the bed, and let her sleep be haunted by the prospects, both good and bad, in front of her.

* * *

"Alright perpetrator, you were warned. Prepare for judgement," Mandora said. It was a dream. She knew it was a dream, and yet it was the kind of dream where one feels more like an observer than a participant. She didn't dream often, and when she did it was analysing cases and witness statements. This one felt different. Her dream self pushed open the door to the hotel room and saw Psychro in nothing but his boxer shorts inside.

"What's my crime officer?" he asked.

"I saw that busted taillight of yours. And the punishment for a busted taillight is a spanking on your tail, and it won't be light." She looked horrified at the words that had come out of her mouth, but then realized that her outfit was different; it was tight black leather and she carried a whip instead of a boomerang in one hand. "Now drop your boxers and submit to me."

* * *

Four weeks, four days ago.

Dammit. Those dreams were becoming more regular. Mandora scowled in Psychro's direction, wondering whether he had any kind of psychic abilities. She'd never heard of any, but then anything was possible given his Psion heritage. It was morning now, she could see the first rays of sun shining through the door that led outside. Now that it was light she could get a good glimpse at what was out there. A wide open field surrounded by bleachers. There was a door far in the distance that presumably led to where her opponents would be coming from. The terrain was basically flat and mostly barren, though grass was trying to grow here and there.

As she watched she could see Equines beginning to decorate the arena with colourful signs. A trio of soldiers emerged from that other door and began stretching. This would prove educational. Getting a chance to watch them might help her identify specific strengths and weaknesses if she were to meet any of them in her fight. It would also give her an idea of the kind of tactics she could expect out there. "Whatcha doing?" Psychro asked, still laying on the bed. She wasn't sure what had awakened him, and didn't really care. His appearance in her dreams was still unnerving.

"Scouting the opposition," she replied. He walked over and she moved aside a little to let him look. "They're pretty good. Hnh. That one's a lefty." Mandora knew that the rules of combat allowed the opposition to carry any weapon they chose, but that it was traditional to use close quarters weapons unless it looked like the prisoner was winning. Each carried a small hand pistol that required a code to fire, preventing such weapons from being taken by a prisoner and making their escape easier. The one she'd spotted carried his weapons on the opposite side than the others, marking him as a left hander.

"Does that make a difference?" Psychro asked.

"It makes all the difference. The weapons come at you from a different direction than you're used to. I wonder if they'll let us work out."

"Would you two be quiet? Some of us are trying to sleep," one of the Jackalmen said.

"Yes, it's bad enough we're in this mess because of you, but now we're losing sleep as well," Geckren said. "If you'd handed Psychro over like we told you to..."

"Oh lay off her. She's got the hots for him, that's the only reason she wouldn't hand him over."

"Like any snivelling Jackal wouldn't turn over their mate for the sake of their own hide."

"Like any self-respecting Mutant, you mean. You Reptiles like to think you're so high and mighty, but I bet you'd turn in your mate if you could get one."

"Why you cowardly dog!"

Mandroa cast a look over her shoulder at where the Jackal and the Reptile were brawling with their two comrades trying to break them apart. They wouldn't be winning their fights, she could tell. She wouldn't even bet on them in an even odds fight with those Equines. The Horse Mutants were beginning to do laps around the field, showing more discipline than their kinsmen. It was hard to believe that they descended from the same stock.

One look at Psychro and she knew that he was thinking the same thing. The biggest advantage she and the Lunatak had was real world combat experience. The two of them had been in countless fights over the years, against many different types of opponents. She had taken lives before too, something she would have to do here if she wanted to live. She didn't technically have to do so, but being willing to take a life was part of the deal. Mandora knew that she couldn't afford to take it easy on the Equines, but if she could merely cripple instead she would do it.

"The lefty looks a little slower than the others," Psychro murmured. She looked out the window and realized he was right. That one was lagging behind after the third lap, and was beginning to look fatigued. So there was a weak link in the group, good to know. It was also nice to see that Psychro was paying attention. He might actually survive this.

* * *

After lunch, another meal of watered down porridge, Mandora requested some time out on the field to get familiar with her surroundings and was granted it. She and Psychro walked the perimeter, making mental notes of spots where the ground was softer and places where it dipped. Chances were good that they wouldn't really be able to make use of that information, but the knowledge that it was there create a sense of comfort, so that they were less likely to be taken by surprise by it.

Now that they were outside, they could see that the walls were solid steel, flecked in many places by assorted colours of blood. It was clear that the bodies were taken away, but that little else was done in the way keeping it clean. Psychro wondered, if the walls could talk what they would say. How many souls had died here in this field? And what tactics had been effective against the Equines? Surely someone had come close.

Mandora walked with him to the centre of the field and she began teaching him some basic fighting techniques. He wouldn't become a master by any stretch of the imagination, but if they improved his abilities at all it might be worth it. His basic techniques weren't bad, just unrefined. Psychro really was better suited to bar room brawling, and gave little thought to things like tactics or strategy.

She started him off with a few simple strikes. "You're giving away your punches," she commented, "look where you're hitting, but try to throw off your opposition. Vary your attacks. This isn't like pro wrestling, this is real. You're going to need to fight dirty." He tried following her advice, with limited success. He wasn't sure if the Equines were likewise scouting, so he didn't want to give away too much. He did, however, manage to impress her by executing a neat little leg sweep that took her off her feet momentarily.

They weren't given much time, probably only about two hours, before they were returned to their cell. As soon as they were back inside, the Mutants were given an equal amount of time to survey the battlefield. To Psychro's surprise, the black stallion and white mare were waiting for them when they returned. "Evil chaser first class Mandora, I would be honoured if you would eat dinner with me this evening. You seem to have a fine grasp of law, and I would like to hear more about your opinion. Psychro will be unable to join us as Ellis has requested some time to talk to him," the stallion said.

"We tried to talk her out of it, but she insisted. Don't worry, there will be a guard present to ensure your safety," the mare added.

"I would be honoured," Mandora replied.

Psychro, for his part, was too stunned to make a response of any kind. Ellis wanted to see him? This close to their epic fight? Was this pity, love, a chance to get some answers? Had she perhaps even figured out what he'd done for her. There was only one way to find out, and that would only happen by accepting the offer to see her. But maybe he shouldn't. The harsh reality was that if her mood towards him was different the council might notice. "Tell her no. I'm done with her," he forced himself to say. The temptation was strong, but he couldn't give in to it. There was also the possibility of execution day sex. He wondered where that ranked to other kinds of sex.

"You weren't being given the choice. Come with me. You are to be bathed before we take you anywhere," the white mare said, opening the cell door. Neither Psychro nor Mandora offered any resistence as they were taken away.

* * *

The corridors in this part of the government building were much nicer than any Mandora had seen so far on this planet, which spoke to the bureaucracy of the civilization. As with most cultures that preached equality, some still ended up with better possessions than others. Whereas Ellis' home was simple, almost rustic, this area spoke of wealth and power. Each of the three judges were granted a third of the eighth floor for living and presently they were heading to Fastwynd's personal dining room. He and Arra were the black stallion and white mare respectively that she had seen in the court, and they were married.

"It's unusual for a couple to be acting as judges, but we manage to keep our personal and professional lives separate for the most part," Arra explained at Mandora's questioning look. "It does make life awkward for Storm now and then, having to pick sides, but it seems to work." Storm, Mandora assumed, was the light blue stallion.

The dining room itself, for all the grandeur of the rest of the home, was small and quaint. A large metallic table, etched with pastoral scenes, dominated the room, while eight chairs were arranged around it. The three settled into chairs at one end, with Fastwynd taking the middle seat.

* * *

Psychro was led from one section of the dungeon to a solid room in the floor above. A security camera hung from the ceiling and a set of manacles hung on one wall. It appeared to his eyes that this was a room designed for interrogations. The pair of guards who had brought him here, hastily clamped his wrists in the shackles and stepped aside so that Ellis could enter.

"I take it you know why you're here?" she asked. Her eyes were softer, indicating she did understand. He looked pointedly at the camera, hoping she had either noticed it or knew about it, and was rewarded with a very subtle incline of the head. Good, then she was in on the act. That made life a little easier on Psychro.

"I assume this is a very kinky conjugal visit? Just couldn't get enough of me and wanted to ride the Psychro Express one last time?" he said, managing to sound as slimy as he could.

"In your dreams, you disgusting pervert. I wanted you to understand that I really did love you once. I thought maybe, just maybe, you might be the man for me. I don't know if our species is compatible, but I'd almost wanted to settle down and raise a family with you. Now, I plan on taking the 'Psychro Express' home with me as a trophy. I just hope you're still alive when I cut it loose." She stepped closer, inches from his face, pretending for the world to see that she furious with him. "I still love you," she whispered.

"I love you too, and I'm sorry," Psychro replied.

"I'm done in here, take him away." The guards obliged, dragging Psychro back to his cell. He felt better, though, and his guilt was washed away. He'd still gotten her into a hell of a mess, one that wasn't quite over yet, but at least she understood why he'd done what he'd done.

* * *

Spiced cider was decanted from a silver ewer, a delicious pasta dinner with salad was provided for Mandora. It was excellent fare, prepared by the government kitchen staff. The cooks and their assistants were on call twenty-four hours a day and provided meals for all three officials. "It's unusual for government officials to handle both the lawmaking and the judging. I suppose that's a testament on how little crime you have here," commented Mandora, before stabbing another leaf of lettuce.

"Yes. And it's precisely that which makes us hesitant to make contact with the outside world. Ours is a paradise, little crime, little disease. Despite what your friend thinks we do not keep order through fear, our people are genuinely happy with things the way they are," Arra said.

"And you worry that opening your doors will upset the balance?"

"Precisely. We have worked hard to create a peaceful environment. We have soldiers, police and weapons technology, but their use is limited and that's the way we like it. We have no doubt that your Control would mean well but..." Fastwynd said.

"You must understand, we know there is a lot that your people can do. We've just found something that works for us," Arra added.

"I've seen it before, on other planets. The risk you find yourselves in is isolating yourselves too much. Right now the Mutants of Plundarr don't know where you are, but if they did they would send an armada to enslave you. I just don't think your limited air force would be sufficient in stopping them. I'm sure you would fight valiantly, but it would be in vain," Mandora said.

"So under Control, there are no wars between planets? I find that hard to believe, or is Control some sort of super army keeping everyone in line?" Fastwynd asked.

Mandora bit back her immediate quip. More than once it had been suggested that the Interplanetary Control Force was no better than a conquering army, threatening violence and sanctions if its members didn't toe the line. She knew better, but there were times it was hard to see. "Actually, it is allowed. We act as mediators and caregivers. We make sure that universal laws are followed, but allow each planet to function as they see fit. If two planets wish to go to war, we will let them, but we will ensure that prisoners of war are treated fairly, and will assist when the war comes to an end or if one side surrenders we will step in to make sure their plea is listened to." There were about thousand of procedures and protocols involving Control and interplanetary wars, and she knew most of them by heart. Typically her sector of space was quiet, leaving her to do little more than handle traffic violations.

"So Control wouldn't step in unless we surrendered to the Mutants?" Arra asked.

"It's more complicated than that. In a case such as this, the Mutants would have to formally declare war. If you then said that you weren't interested in a war, we would intervene and seek a more peaceful solution to your quarrels. The difficulty is that some races might have grounds for complaint. Your execution of outsiders could be interpreted as a hostile action."

"What would you have us do? We don't dare just let people go and ask them not to tell about us, nor do we want to have them languishing in our dungeons."

"That's something Control could help you with. We could arrange for prisoners to be brought to one of our facilities. We have means of removing information from people's brains. For obvious reasons this is carefully guarded, but I can imagine that we'd be willing to use it for your benefit."

* * *

What were they talking about, Psychro wondered. Mandora had been up with those horses for two hours now, and still she hadn't returned. The Mutants had, though, returning to their cells in worse condition than when they'd left them. Reptos, he noted, was the only one not sporting a new wound, while one of the Jackalmen was licking at a deep cut in his shoulder. None of them would last five minutes against those Equine warriors. Well, maybe if they ran they would.

Reptos didn't look at all concerned. Maybe he was just at peace with his own mortality, or maybe he was taking solace in the knowledge that Psychro was probably going to die as well. The Reptile took a portion of each of his underlings' food for himself and they didn't protest.

Psychro almost snorted at the absurdity of it all. One of those rare times that he regretted sleeping with a woman and it caused all this. And yet if he hadn't, he might not have gotten quite this close to nailing Mandora. Life was funny, in a way, and he suspected that the gods must have one wicked sense of humour. He'd find out for sure if he failed his end of the trial by combat.

The Ice Lunataks, which was what he basically considered himself to be, worshipped Lunis; goddess of warriors and fertility. She would probably be proud of him. Heck, he'd always assumed that she was favouring him. In a scrap he often gave as good as he got, and in the bedroom... well, even with all the lovers, he'd yet to contract anything, and had only gotten two pregnant. He had had a daughter with Heavy Bevy named Rathja who refused to speak with him, and then there was Icilia. Her sister, Glacin had been his first love. Oh they had made love numerous times, and he'd finally, after only a few months, asked her to bond with him formally. She had laughed at him. Her family was one of those that preached the purity of the race, despising crossbreeds, and she told him that she had only lowered herself to sleeping with the scum of the moon to get at her father, the sire of House Whitestar. Out of revenge, his feelings hurt and his emotions raw, he'd convinced Icilia to sleep with him.

When she learned she was pregnant, and with his child no less, she had taken her life to spare herself her family's shame. Psychro had always suspected her father's hand in the matter, but he'd never been able to prove it. Such a powerful and influential house, information to the contrary disappeared. He always wondered, though, what it would be like to have a child, to raise it, to be a father. He was going to be an uncle, assuming he lived long enough, but that wasn't the same.

* * *

"I'm told the Zebra Mutants were exterminated after you left Plundarr," Mandora said. Talk had moved from politics and lawmaking, which seemed to be sensitive subjects, to history. The two seemed fascinated to hear everything that had happened on Plundarr since their exodus to Equidarr.

"Our history books say that we tried to convince them to come with us. None did, tragically," Arra said.

"If only they'd listened," Fastwynd added.

"Most of the other Mutant races became more fearful after you left. They watched for any signs of other deserters and punished them severely. Eventually five major races firmly took control. The Reptiles, the Rats, the Jackals, the Simians, and the Vultures. There are other races around too, but their numbers are low. I wouldn't blame yourselves though, you started something that was going to happen eventually. The Mutants of Plundarr aren't a peaceful race, and they would have seen your attitudes as harmful," Mandora noted. They had since moved into a study filled with books. "Besides, a peaceful Plundarr would have left you open to attacks from the Lunataks."

"If Psychro is an indication of the Lunataks, then I'm grateful we got out of there. The way he treated poor Ellis, it's unimaginable," Arra shuddered visibly and snatched a sugar cube from a small box by her chair. Obviously, from the clenching of his fists, Fastwynd had considered what he would do to the Lunatak if Psychro had tried seducing his wife.

"In a way. Lunataks generally only think of themselves, it's practically the only reason they're not a greater power in the universe. They're violent and think nothing of using others. And yet I've seen great acts of kindness out of them. They feel love and devotion just like you and I. It's like anyone, there is capacity for good and evil, it's a question of the quantity and which voice you listen to," Mandora said, memories of the kiss she'd shared with Psychro returning unbidden.

"It's getting late. We could arrange separate accommodations for you, if you want," Fastwynd said.

"No. An officer of law doesn't request special treatment. My cell with Psychro will be adequate." Fastwynd nodded his approval and escorted her back to the dungeons. He felt reasonably confident that Mandora could handle herself if Psychro tried anything untoward, but stationed an extra guard nearby in case. Little did he know that there was a chance Mandora would let him.

* * *

Present day.

"Come on, Psychro. Get to thee good part!" Tug Mug said. "Tell us how she was een bed."

"You want to hear the story, you'll hear it the way I want."

* * *

Four weeks, two days ago.

Festival day. Banners were hanging in the arena, and Equines from the outlying parts of the land were venturing into the city. There was great excitement in the air as one of the 'demonic' Lunataks had been captured and was going to fight for his life. Children squealed at the knowledge that, indeed, the boogeyman did exist.

In the prisons, the atmosphere was less festive. It had been a trying night for all six of the condemned. If it wasn't the anxiety over their own fates, it was the simpering of the two Jackals. Eventually, Reptos had to threaten to kill them himself to get them to be quiet long enough for them all to get a few hours of rest.

Psychro woke before the others, feeling restless, and found himself staring out the window at the goings on. There was a band setting up at one edge of the field, and he found himself wondering what kind of music one played at an execution. He was about to carry the thought further when he saw four ships rocketing across the sky. They were heading much too fast to be getting ready for an air show, causing an uneasy feeling to settle in his belly. A gentleman with some sort of headset, who had been directing the band's progress, suddenly began barking orders, sending the band people scattering. "Something's up," he muttered, shaking Mandora. Whatever was happening he wanted her awake and paying attention.

"Heh, heh, heh... That's right, Lunatak, something is up. Your time," Reptos said, sneering. The other Mutants had roused themselves and were watching through their cell's window.

"We're going to live! By all the slime of Plundarr, we're going to live!" one of the Jackalmen said, pumping his fist.

"Mutant warships," Mandora cursed, tuning her visor to focus in on the tiny specks in the distance.

The words sent chills up Psychro's spine. Mutant warships meant that Reptos had managed to send a message back to Plundarr before being subdued by the Equine forces. While his fate prior to this hadn't looked particularly promising, it looked bleaker now. Mutants weren't known for being gentle to Lunataks under the best of circumstances, and these were anything but the best of circumstances. As if to confirm his fears he heard Mandora curse. Heavy footfalls announced the arrival of Fastwynd.

"Mandora! It's the Mutants, they're attacking!" he said, panicked.

"That's right, stupid horse, you and your precious people, will be our slaves!" Geckren said.

"Get me to the Electrocharger," Mandora said. "There's still time for Control to intervene."

"Alright," he sighed reluctantly and opened the cell doors. "Follow me."

"They'll be too late. You're all going to die! Plundarr forever!" Reptos called after them as Fastwynd, Psychro and Mandora disappeared down the hall.


	3. Chapter 3

Psychro Always Gets His Man...dora  
By Jonathan J. Prideaux  
Chapter 3

As they sprinted across the road, from government building to science and technology building, Mandora could tell that the situation was looking very bleak for the Equine people. One of the large Mutant warships was making a beeline towards the main buildings, and she knew that it wouldn't be long before shock troops were beamed down to the surface. Mutants were dreadfully predictable in their warfare, but also eerily efficient.

Her brain was in the process of calculating which planets in the immediate vicinity might be called on to help defend Equidarr, and what protocols would be needed to get their support. Added in to those figures was the time required to gather enough troops and get to the planet in the first place. Plundarr might be able to hold off the liberation for a little while with a few loopholes, but she doubted there was anything resembling a legal team among the Mutants of Plundarr.

Of course, how long the Equines would be able to hold off their Mutant attackers would be dependant entirely on the size of the Mutant and Equine armies respectively. The former would certainly have a weapons advantage, but the latter knew the terrain and all its quirks better.   
They entered the laboratory and she followed Fastwynd through the halls to the room where the Electrocharger and Psychro's 'Space Babe' were. They had started disassembling what was left of both vehicles following the horrendous crash, but Mandora could see instantly that her motorcycle's communication system was still operable. "This is evil chaser first class Mandora to the Interplanetary Control Force. Is anyone listening?" she spoke into the microphone, counting the seconds anxiously for a response.

"This is Bran, of the Interplanetary Control Force, please state authorization code," a male voice crackled over the radio. She'd never met the man, but that didn't mean much. She had very little to do with the dispatchers outside of radio contact.

She also really didn't have time for protocols, much as she hated to admit that, she liked her protocols, they were what made everything run so efficiently. The Mutants might overwhelm the building at any moment and she needed to get the message out. "Mandora Two Alpha One Five Foxtrot. We have a critical situation, code theta yellow, at the following co-ordinates. Hostile assault by Plundarrian Mutants against friendly forces on the planet of Equidarr. No, it's not on your star charts, I will file a full report later," she said before Bran could say anything. "Their leader has requested Control aid in preventing the enslavement and/or extermination of their people."

"I will pass it on to high command. Try and keep safe, support will be there as soon as possible."

"Affirmative. I will attempt to keep this frequency open, but I can't promise anything," she said. Taking the communication system out would be difficult, but not impossible. Certainly, the benefit of having a means of communicating with the outside world outweighed the precious time it would take to remove it from the Electrocharger itself. It had a built in power supply for just such an emergency.

"Now what?" Psychro asked.

Mandora considered that for a second, as she began detaching the unit. There were really two options, three if she thought surrendering was viable, they could either hole up somewhere secure and hold off their attackers or run and hide. Neither was a particularly good strategy against the Mutants and their warships. The ships could simply blow up any hiding spot they chose, and the terrain was wide open and flat, meaning that they would be visible immediately from the air. She chose the lesser of two evils. "Do you have anywhere that can be defended? Preferably somewhere with a back door and low to the ground." There was a greater chance that the Mutants wanted prisoners, especially herself and Psychro if Reptos was in command yet.

"There's an emergency bunker in the military headquarters. It has a force field generator and a tunnel that leads out of the city. Arra and Storm were sending as many as they could in that direction. Arra! I hope she's okay," Fastwynd started for the door.

She had her doubts, but didn't say it. The Mutants might not be very bright, but they would notice if crowds of people were headed for one building. Mandora had hoped for something less conspicuous. She had just finished wrenching the communications unit from the Electrocharger when a pair of Simians burst through the door. "Hoo, hoo! A Lunatak and Mandora!" one shouted.

His friend jumped up and down, smacking his club into the floor in an attempt at intimidating the trio. Obviously they were wanting to take prisoners, and were hoping to bully them into submission. The first Simian started to reach for his radio when Psychro attacked, armed with a screwdriver he'd found on the table. He jabbed it into the Mutant's muscled thigh and swung his other hand, catching him across the jaw. The ape howled and stumbled backwards, distracting his partner long enough for Mandora to join in. Mandora kicked hard, blasting the air out of the ape's stomach, and then punched him hard with her free hand.

"Use your gun, Fastwynd. Snap out of it!" Psychro spat, seeing that the black stallion hadn't budged from his spot since the Mutants first came through the door. He'd clearly never used a gun before, and his arms shook. In an instant Psychro knew that he needed more motivation, so he hit below the belt. "Don't let Arra down! She needs a strong man."

It worked. Fastwynd's gun fired paralysing bolts of energy that rocked both Simian Mutants. Psychro took the club from one of them and stepped aside so that the Equine could lead the way.

* * *

They met a little more resistance as they went through, which meant that the full scale invasion had begun. As Mandora had surmised, the Mutants had pinpointed the three large buildings and decided that these should be the focus of their assault. Fastwynd's gun proved useful, but most of the opposition likewise was carrying distance weapons. When they reached the main entrance they saw Geckren and a group of six Jackalmen beating up a white smocked Equine. Fastwynd managed to fire off two shots before Geckren's men were able to recover.

"Take them alive!" the Reptile shouted, grinning widely as Psychro sprinted closer. Knowing that the vile Lunatak who had slept with his sister was still alive made this combat more satisfying. For all their vaunted technology and their 'holier-than-thou' attitude regarding the purity of their race, the Equines were pathetically easy to rout. Geckren had been told that their four space worthy ships had been decimated within minutes, one falling apart even as it burst through the atmosphere. He blocked Psychro's club with his axe, and swung his tail to trip Psychro's feet.

"I just got better tail out of you than I did your sister," Psychro chuckled, jumping lightly over the attack. Reptilians were known to like using their tail as an 'unexpected' weapon in a fight. The problem was that they used it so often it rendered itself almost useless. A tail swing only served now to put the Reptile off balance and facing the wrong direction. Psychro swept his club across and walloped Geckren in the shoulder. There was a satisfying sound of wood hitting muscle and the Mutant staggered, clutching at his now throbbing arm.

"Save the banter, Psychro," Mandora shouted, tackling a Jackalman who was bent on catching the Lunatak hybrid from behind.

"Ah, you're no fun, Manny," he replied, but did as she said. Geckren was recovering quickly, and they were still outnumbered here. The adrenaline rush was starting to fade in Fastwynd, his shots were coming less frequently, and were starting to become less accurate too. If he was honest with himself, Psychro would concede that he wasn't hitting quite as strong as he had been when they'd met the Simians in the lab. The club was helping a little, but he was almost tempted to retrieve the gun from the Equine leader.

Fortunately they had now gained a fourth member of their party, the scientist's presence had been forgotten about long enough for him to recover and throw him onto Geckren's back. With the Reptile now fully distracted, Psychro swung the club as hard as he could at his knees. Geckren let out an ear splitting scream as bone and club shattered, shards of the latter showering around them. Psychro turned to evaluate how his friends were doing. Mandora was finishing off her third Jackal, while the remaining three seemed to be recovering from various laser wounds, which meant that they had a chance to catch their breaths.

"We'll never get to the safehold," Fastwynd moaned, peeking through the doors at the streets. Mutants were everywhere, mostly dealing with prisoners. Psychro knew that he was right. Going out into the streets now would be akin to turning themselves over. He hoped that those inside the stronghold could last a while.

"Don't panic," Mandora said sternly. "Once Control gets here..."

"Don't panic? My wife's out there! My friends. We'll all be enslaved or killed before your precious Control gets here," Fastwynd sputtered. Psychro slapped him, doing what Mandora wanted to do but couldn't.

"We can't go out that way, are there any other ways out?" Mandora asked.

"There's the roof hatch and the receiving doors," Psychro said, when Fastwynd didn't reply. The shock of the situation was too much for him, and the Lunatak pried the gun from his hands. Luckily the weapon still had half a battery pack left.

"There's also a door further along this hall, but that's where these Mutants caught me," the scientist said, trying to be helpful.

"We can't use the roof without being spotted at this point, I'll wager. I suggest the receiving area might be our only way out. Question is, where do we go from there? Obviously we'll never get to the safe house," Psychro said as the group cautiously made their way back the way they'd come. "Try and take over someone's home?"

"Fastwynd. You said that the safe house has a tunnel that leads out of the city. Could it be used to get in?" Mandora said suddenly, her words snapping the stallion out of his daze for a moment, as though the possibility of being re-united with Arra rejuvenated him.

"Yes. I suppose it could. We'd need to get out of the city to the east without being seen. There's a small river in the middle of a narrow gully. The exit is there. But if the Mutants figure out where we're going..."

"I know. It's our best bet. You carry the radio, let me know if anyone calls," she said. She had put it down during the fight, but now handed it over.

* * *

The receiving area was empty of people when they got there, and Mandora moved to the door. Her helmet didn't detect any signs of Mutants immediately outside, but that didn't mean there weren't any around. She called up the map of the city on her helmet's computer and examined it carefully. There was a laneway that cut across this side of the building. One way went to the front of the building where they knew Mutants were stationed. The other led to a parking lot that backed onto a residential area. That seemed to be the only route open to them at the moment. It was going to be risky, being out in the open wasn't a good place to be during a hostile invasion, but it beat waiting in some room to be found. She raised the garage door and slid out first, followed by Psychro, Fastwynd, and Emgee the scientist.

The coast was clear. Moving quickly the quartet moved along the edge of the building until they reached the laneway. Mandora looked around the corner while Psychro kept his eyes trained in the other direction. "Let's go," she hissed.

Now that they were in the parking lot, Mandora could more fully analyse the situation. The fences leading into the backyards of the various houses were at least six feet high, easily scaled by herself and, she suspected, Psychro. Fastwynd and Emgee would probably have to be helped over, but that couldn't be avoided. However, if the Mutants were following form, they were probably ransacking the houses they came to, looking for people hiding. They would have some kind of thermal scanning, meaning that the quartet couldn't stay long hidden in any of them. A break to get some food would be nice, though. She knew that if she was feeling hungry that her companions probably were too. Neither she nor Psychro had had breakfast before the commotion, and it was probably a little after lunchtime now. "Pick a house. We can afford five minutes inside to grab what we need. We'll need food if we're going to make it safety," she said. She didn't like stealing, but there were guidelines that allowed it under particular circumstances. The owners would be reimbursed at the end. "While you three get food, I'll see if I can raise Control and get an update."

Emgee nodded brightly. "I have a friend who lives in that one with all the red lawn furniture," he said, pointing.

"Good. Then we break for it on the count of three. One... Two... Three!" The parking lot felt as though it was a mile wide, as they ran from the safety of the building towards that distant yard. They tried to keep low, and zipped between the various cars, until they finally made it. As Mandora had suspected, a lifetime of fleeing from angry fathers and more than one police officer had given some skill in scaling fences. He clambered to the top with ease and, with Mandora's help at the bottom, reached down to get Fastwynd and Emgee over to the other side.

* * *

As it turned out, getting into the house was easier than expected. When the occupants had fled, they had used the back door and left it ajar. Mandora chose not to speculate on whether Emgee's friend had escaped or not. Immediately Psychro and Fastwynd went to the kitchen to get food, while Emgee ran through the house to confirm that indeed everyone had left. The evil chaser let them do their business while she focussed on the radio. No transmissions had come through it yet, which in itself wasn't promising. "This is evil chaser first class Mandora to the Interplanetary Control Force. Respond please," she said, wondering if the Mutants had some sort of radio jamming field. They weren't known for such technology, but it would be easy enough to acquire.

"This is Dow Winnegan of the Interplanetary Control Force, we copy you, Mandora."

"Requesting an update on the Equidarr situation. When can we expect back-up?"

"One moment. I'll transfer you to relief expert Tranzis." Silence reigned as the call was forwarded to one of the relief effort specialists, presumably the one who had been assigned to handle her particular situation. Unlike some of the other people at Control, Mandora had actually worked with Tranzis before. The effort had been in vain, a humanoid race with batlike wings that lived underwater had been exterminated before the necessary relief efforts could be mounted. There had been a sole survivor who died from injuries about a month later. It was a blemish on both their records and they'd been through a lengthy inquiry to determine what had gone wrong. Mandora knew she had a personal stake in this instance not following suit.

"Relief expert Tranzis speaking. This is Mandora, right? Okay. I've got the file in front of me on your code theta yellow. We've got one of our reserve groups on the way, as well as two detachments from Bunndarr. There are two more detachments being assembled on other allied worlds, and another group with a supply train in case this goes longer. I was actually just speaking to the liaison who's negotiating with the Mutants of Plundarr and it's not looking promising. They're trying to argue that this is an internal matter, given that the Equines used to be part of their people. Heck, your presence is about the only thing that's gotten us this far along. You're looking at tomorrow at best," the woman's voice crackled over the radio.

It was as good as it could get, Mandora knew. While Control had a small army of their own, comprised of volunteers from their supporting worlds, they mostly relied on the goodwill of planets to support them in any military conflicts. Plundarr wasn't well liked, thankfully, so support was coming freely, but Mandora had seen it happen where planets were reluctant to get involved in someone else's affairs. Bunndarr was actually a prime example. Their situation mirrored that of the Equines, except that their flight from Plundarr had come with Control's assistance many many years ago. She had known that they would be the first to help in sticking it to Plundarr under the circumstances. "Thank you. I still owe you a drink, get me off of here and I'll repay it," Mandora said.

"It's a deal," the woman sounded amused even as she signed off.

Well, at least they had an update. It wasn't the great news, but it wasn't terribly bad either. A day would give the Mutants a chance to gain a foothold on Equidarr and gather enough hostages to make an assault awkward. Psychro handed her a loaf of bread and an apple as he came in from the kitchen. "Thought you might need some grub too," he said, crunching on his own apple.

"Thanks," she replied. She hadn't actually given much thought to her own needs, like a good cop was supposed to do. "We'd better keep moving. Control says we can expect some relief tomorrow at the earliest."

"We just have to hope it's not too late," Psychro said. Once Fastwynd and Emgee joined them, Mandora scouted outside the front. There were a few Mutants out and about, but most of them seemed to be focussed on the military building. The foot patrols would be a problem, though. She was willing to bet, too, that soon the Mutants would begin looting the buildings, which made staying put a foolish move.

"Stay close to the buildings. If the Mutants see us, we'll have to run for it. Move quickly and quietly and hope for the best," Mandora instructed the three. She watched as a motley group of two Reptiles and a Rat walked by and counted to thirty for them to get far enough away to hopefully not see them. "Okay. Let's go."

* * *

The Equines had given up on the gods of Plundarr when they'd left, believing that they didn't want any part of a god that would sanction what happened on that mudball of a planet. Instead they had adopted heroes; people like Wynd and more. Fastwynd's parents had even named him after the famous hero. He wasn't certain what the afterlife was like and whether the heroes of old watched down over their descendants, but if they were then they were surely smiling down on himself and Emgee as they ran silently down the streets.

Mandora led the way, Psychro taking a rearguard position, using her helmet to spy patrols before the patrols saw them, and they hid in the shadows of buildings when necessary. The city, in hindsight, really hadn't been laid out very well. Streets went every which direction, depending on the whims of the builders. This made their escape easier in some ways, but also made it that much harder to see patrols in time.

Luck seemed to be on their side, overall and they were venturing nearer and nearer to the city limits. They heard an explosion, somewhere behind them, and very faintly they heard cheering. His heart leapt to his throat, imagining that they had somehow managed to blow up the safe haven and were cheering the deaths of so many Equines. There would be plenty of those anyway, he realized, as they came across yet another horse. This one was a young woman, a crowbar lay a few inches from where she'd fallen and it wasn't hard to guess what had happened. She had tried to defend her homeland and paid for it. "There'll be time to grieve later," Psychro said, almost colliding with him.

The outsider was right, as he was realizing that the two of them had been for most of the time they'd been here. These two had known the pitfalls that their lifestyle could lead to, they had foreseen this coming. But they had also led their oppressors to them. The thought appeared unbidden in his head, and he realized that it was true. During conversation, Mandora had mentioned that Reptos and his men had attacked them shortly before their ship had crashed on Equidarr. Reptos must have followed them and brought the might of the Mutant armada down on them.

No. Arra would not approve of him thinking that way. These people had tried to help, he'd actually liked Mandora and felt guilty about sentencing her to die. They might have brought the Mutants, but they hadn't done it on purpose. He swore that, if they made it out alive, that he would implement all of Mandora's suggestions to prevent a future tragedy like this.

The groups of Mutants were becoming fewer and fewer as they went further through the city, though there were still ships circling overhead. Finally they reached the last of the houses and saw the wide open fields that surrounded the city. Mandora stopped the group and they ducked into a garage.

"Okay, Fastwynd, this is your country. Where do we need to go from here?" Mandora said, confident that their location was secure for the time being.

"Two miles. That way," he pointed. "We'll hit the gully at that point and then it should be a five minute run to the entrance of the tunnel."

"That's two miles out in the open. Exposed to any ships that happen to fly overhead. I don't like it."

"We don't have much choice," Psychro said. "We'll just have to cover that ground as quick as we can. Unless you've got a holoprojector on you."

"I don't. They're not standard issue. All right then, I'll take a look to see if anyone's nearby."

* * *

Present day.

"Hey, why didn't you just take one of those cars? Wouldn't that be faster than running all over the countryside?" a rangy Darkling lass asked.

Psychro took a moment, wondering how he was going to finish his story if people kept interrupting him. He glanced at his watch and knew that he had enough time to finish and get to his hotel room, though, before that girl arrived. Would she let him tie her up and call her Chilla? "We thought about it, as I'll explain, once I go to the bathroom. Back in a second."

* * *

Four weeks, two days ago.

Mandora looked around at the scene. There were no Mutants on the ground near them, and the nearest ship was some distance away. That could change in an instant, though, and she knew it. It was almost tempting to take a car, Psychro could probably hot wire one, but that made their chance of discovery greater. She was willing to wager that the exit to the tunnel wouldn't be big enough to conceal a car, and a lone car sitting in the middle of nowhere was akin to sending up a flare saying 'Mutants look here for escapees.' Even if they drove it along the road for a while it would give some Jackalman a place to start sniffing around for their scent. Finally she waved to the others and they set a brisk pace, walking through the tall grass towards that distant gully.

* * *

Ellis screamed as she was dragged from the crowd by a Simian Mutant. The prisoners had, thus far, been divided into men, women, and children. The men were shackled and many were beaten for sport. The women were pressed into preparing meals for their oppressors if they were lucky. With the government building completely taken, the Mutants had decided to celebrate their conquering of Equidarr. Since a feast was already in preparation, they just changed the occasion. More than one woman had been dragged away to be pressed into other, more despicable, service.

Reptos, who was currently in command of the occupation, was in a foul mood. There was no sign of either Psychro or Mandora, about the only piece of good news Ellis had heard, since Geckren's report. "Hoo, hoo, here she is, sir," the Simian said, pushing her down on to the ground at the feet of the two Reptiles.

"You are the one who befriended Psychro, yes?" Reptos asked, looking down at her. He had seen her at the trial, she realized horrified. Seeing little point in denying it she nodded. "Good. Did he tell you why we were chasing him? It's because of what he did to my sister; he used her for his pleasure and then tossed her aside. No one does that to a member of my family."

Psychro had slept with this man's sister? Had there actually been some truth in what he and Mandora had said? Then she thought 'was he going to punish her for her association with Psychro or try and use it against him?' Neither prospect was very promising, and she shuddered under his vile gaze. "So, you grasp the situation then. We're going to use you as bait, lure Psychro and Mandora out of hiding or watch you die a slow and painful death. Bring her."

They dragged her out in front of the military headquarters where a fiendish looking machine sat. "This is called the four winds. It slowly tears a body and scatters the pieces to the four winds. We know that Psychro has a radio, and we are sending a message through every channel that if he doesn't turn himself in by the time we have our feast, you will suffer on his behalf. If he does, however, you will be free and *he* will be our entertainment." The Simian and a fellow ape shackled her in place. "For the next five hours, this will be your home. You'd better hope that your boyfriend still loves you, yes?" The Mutants chuckled and wandered away to broadcast their message.

Ellis sobbed uncontrollably, her body shaking with every sniffle. She didn't want to die, but she couldn't bear the thought of Psychro's death either. She cursed the Mutants. She cursed their very existence and prayed for a miracle.

* * *

Psychro counted themselves lucky that there were four scraggly trees clumped near each other, midway through their trek. It granted them a little bit of shelter, and they felt confident enough that they wouldn't be seen very well from the air. Besides, he couldn't speak for the others but his lungs were begging for rest. They were in the middle of their break when Reptos' message crackled over the radio.

"This message is for Psychro of House Myntaello. We have Ellis here, and we will be executing her in five hours unless you surrender yourself to us. And if anyone should turn him in, well, they will be spared our wrath and be rewarded greatly!"

"You! You're the one that brought this down on us!" Emgee growled, jabbing a finger in the Lunatak's chest. "We would still be happy and free if it weren't for you."

"Hey! You think I wanted this?" Psychro replied, rapidly trying to digest what had been said. It was plain as the nose on his face that it was a trap, but it was a good one. If he didn't surrender himself then he was signing Ellis' death warrant, and if he did then he was signing his own. Control wouldn't get there until it was too late, which meant that her only hope was a daring rescue. He had been hoping that she had managed to get to safety in time with many of the others.

"All he did was speed up the inevitable. I'm not happy about it either, but..." Fastwynd started.

"No. And if Emgee feels this way, then so will others. The safe house isn't safe anymore," Mandora said.

"Not for me. But for you three it should be fine," Psychro said, swallowing. He would go back to the city. He had four hours to rescue her before he had to bite the bullet and turn himself in. Maybe, just maybe, the Mutants wouldn't kill him right away. He might be able to use his powers to convince them to prolong things until such time as Control arrived. Of course, the Mutants were just spiteful enough that they might kill him rather than let him get away once the proverbial calvary arrived. "You go on. I'll think of something." He started to turn around, but felt Mandora's hand on his shoulder.

"That's very noble of you, but you're still my responsibility. The law is the law, no matter the circumstances. Besides, I doubt I'd be much more welcome than you there. Fastwynd, you know the way. I'm trusting you to get Emgee and yourself to safety. Take the radio with you, Control will advise you better than I can at this point," she said.

He felt a thrill of pleasure run through him at the touch. Psychro knew that his standing in her eyes had just gone up a notch, and that if they got out of this alive... The two horses took off through the grass and he faced Mandora again. "Thanks," he said, squeezing her hand. The gesture said many things, that he appreciated the help and the company, that he was sorry for being a jerk, and that he still lusted after her.

She nodded, understanding all of it. "Let's go save Ellis."

* * *

It took all of about thirty minutes, moving at a reasonable pace, for Psychro and Mandora to reach the city again, arriving back at the same neighbourhood they had left from. They would need, they realized, to get close to the execution location, but for the time being could afford to sit in one of the outlying houses and plan. Mandora pointed out, and rightly so, that if the Mutants were going to be doing any looting of houses it would be the ones in the immediate vicinity. For now, being out here, was safe.

"I've counted at least seven large Mutant ships," Mandora said. "If each has a standard compliment of about a hundred and twelve soldiers, and they transport everyone but a skeleton crew of eighteen down to the surface, then that leaves us to deal with at least six hundred and fifty Mutants. That's assuming a typical situation."

"I'm good in a fight but that's a lot even for me."

"For me too. What we need is to create a diversion, sneak in and free her."

"She's not the only hostage they have, is the problem. They've got an entire city they could threaten to kill. I'm big on saving my own neck, but I don't feel right letting that many people die for me. What kind of diversion did you have in mind? I might be able to create some property damage. A fire might catch their attention long enough," Psychro said, thinking hard. Certainly he would be able to do that much. They would need to hot wire a vehicle to get them close to Ellis, free her, and run. As stupid as he thought the Mutants were, it wouldn't take six hundred people to put out a fire.

Mandora saw the same flaw in his plan. "That won't work. Reptos would never leave Ellis that unguarded," she said.

"Wait a minute. The Mutants have teleportation technology. You said yourself that the ships will have a skeleton crew of eighteen. We can take eighteen people on. If we can get our hands on a pair of those teleport bracelets, we're set. Beam up, commandeer the ship, beam Ellis right out of whatever they've got her in."

Her eyes lit up. "That's just plausible enough to work," she said. "It would have to be quick, and we'd have to immediately teleport the three of us to another location. The other Mutant ships would be liable to beam people over to our new ship if we took too long. So all we have to do now is wait."

* * *

Psychro watched the approaching trio of Mutants with trepidation. A skinny Rat followed by two Simians, walking close together down the street and carrying some sort of flask that they were gleefully passing between them. They needed to take those Mutants out quickly, before any of them could call for help. Currently Mandora had the rifle, which meant that he could use the trick up his sleeve. She was in position by the living room's window, barrel of the gun sticking out. She gave him the thumb's up that she was ready and he placed his hand on the doorknob.

Even as the first shot was fired, Psychro was flinging open the door and running towards the Mutants. "Hey, stupid faces, look at me!" he shouted, flailing his arms and using just enough of his hypnotic charm to draw their attention to him. He figured the odds were about fifty/fifty that they would have looked in his direction anyway, he just wanted to better them. While he moved, the Rat took an energy bolt in the heart, killing him instantly. The Simians fared little better, one being hit in the shoulder and hip, while the other got hit in the groin and arm. Psychro looked back at the house, somewhat astounded by Mandora's sharpshooting, and proceeded finish the apes off.

It was a necessary task, but not one he was accustomed to doing. Normally when he had his hands on a throat it was part of making a woman's toes curl, but he knew the basics behind snapping a neck. If there had only been two Mutants, he might not have done it. Two Mutants would mean two communicators. They couldn't leave any of their foes with one, in case the Simians warned their comrades before the duo could stage their rescue. Psychro wasn't entirely sure on how the Mutant technology worked, but suspected that a flag might be raised if there were two signals in the exact same location. "It's the red button to recall back to the ship," he said. "Let's just hope they're from the same one."

The look on Mandora's face showed that she hadn't considered the possibility, however faint. It was conceivable that two Mutants from different ships would be hanging out together. "If they are, try to gain control of the bridge. One of us needs to survive."

"Good luck. Let's push it in three, two, one!"

* * *

She had never used a Mutant teleporter before, in fact she had only ever used a teleporter of any sort once and that had been a Control prototype. She recalled telling the technician that the whole process was too disorienting to use for practical use as it was, and that she would find another way off the planet. This one was a vast improvement. There was only a mild sense of disorientation, and that was mostly due to the scene change. It was like blinking, in some respect, one second she was on Equidarr and the next she was in a transporter room with a Jackalman who was looking rather dumbly at her.

Much to her annoyance, Psychro was moving before she registered it, vaulting over the control console and tackling the Mutant to the ground. The Lunatak raised his fist threateningly, and the Jackal whimpered. "I surrender!" he moaned.

"Pathetic," Psychro spat, but acquiesced. He let the Mutant get into a seated position. "Fine. We'll let you live, if you take us to the bridge. No tricks or I'll use your miserable hide as a bath mat."

"The bridge?" the Jackal gulped, wincing as Psychro looked at him funny. "I mean, the bridge! Sure thing." He was allowed to his feet and led them out of the room.

Mutant ships were, to most cultures, hideous in appearance. They weren't supposed to be comfortable, they were supposed to frighten and intimidate their opponents. The interiors weren't much better, which Mandora could only assume was intentional. She had been in Mutant homes before and they were the same sickly colour and possessed of the same foul stench of unwashed bodies, faeces, and alcohol. She could only assume that the alcohol was designed to make one numb to the other sensations.

The halls were empty as they went, proving that there was indeed a skeleton crew. Anyone who was anyone was down on the surface, which suggested that it would be some low ranking underling at the controls. As they rounded a bend, Mandora's foot splashed into some unknown, and best left unknown, liquid. "How do you live like this?" she muttered.

"Oh, it's a little messy, but it reminds me of home," the Jackal said, more cheerfully than she'd expected from a hostage. She checked the battery pack on the gun she had confiscated from one of the Simians and saw that it still had most of a charge left. That was good. If they needed to fight, she might need it.

"How many are on the bridge, Mutant?" she asked.

"Just three, unless Birdman took off again. It wouldn't surprise me, he's always leaving work on some pet project of his. A new fuel formula, he says, multi-octane something or other. I don't think it'll work. Oh and the name's Kal." She wondered why the Jackal was being so chatty. Maybe that was why he had been left behind on the ship. "Here we are. The bridge. You aren't going to kill me now, are you?"

"Not at all. You're going to be our shield. Open the door," Psychro bared his teeth, and wrapped an arm around the Jackal's chest to hold him in place.

The door swished open on the bridge, revealing a large Avian Mutant in the command chair who looked very bored. Another Jackal and a Reptile were at the front controls. None of them looked up at the entrance. Mandora's gun fired, catching the Reptile in the back of his helmet, the beam ricocheting into the floor. That caught the attention of the Mutants. The Reptile started to rise, but caught Mandora's second and third shots in the chest and promptly slumped over.

Beside her, Psychro took keen aim at the Jackal and fired, but Kal jostled him accidentally and the shot went wide. "Intruders!" the Avian, very likely Birdman, shouted. "Warn the other ships!"

The Jackal regarded his leader, the still smoking body of the Reptile, and the two intruders. He saw Mandora's gun pointed in his direction and knew that no matter how fast he was, he wouldn't get a chance to touch the communications button, so he didn't try. "You warn them yourself, Birdman, I'm not suicidal."

"Pfagh! Never trust a Jackalman to do an Avian's job," he said. Before he could move more than a few steps towards the control panel Psychro's gun fired three times, hitting him twice in the back and once in the neck, with the last bolt killing him.

The two Jackals were ushered together and kept under close surveillance by Psychro. Neither he nor the evil chaser was expecting them to do very much, other than cower, but it needed to be done. One couldn't trust Mutants and expect to live to tell the tale.

Mandora walked over to the main controls and scratched her head. She knew the basics of how to use them, a general knowledge in how to fly a ship came in handy, but the specifics were beyond her. They wouldn't have much time either, someone was bound to come across the Simians and Rat that they'd left on the streets, and the questions would point at this ship. There, that looked like a visual scanning device. Not surprisingly the camera was pointed down at the heart of the celebration, where Ellis was strapped into the four winds. She had seen the device before, had heard rulings that it should be declared illegal to use on grounds of cruelty, and heard the Mutants arguments over the usefulness of the thing. The lawmakers had ruled in their favour, unfortunately. Still, the fact they knew where Ellis was was a good thing. She turned and walked over to the quivering Mutants.

"Do you need one of these bracelets to beam up to the ship?" she demanded.

"Well, yes," Kal said, shakily. He didn't like the direction the conversation seemed to be going, and suspected he knew what was coming.

"Drat. In that case you're going to beam me down next to the four winds and then beam both of us back up. Then you're going to beam yourselves to any location you desire and leave your ship in our hands," Psychro cursed. The beaming would show Mandora how to operate the controls so that they could get off the ship as well.

She was actually a little surprised that he volunteered to do the rescuing himself so quickly. She had partially expected to have to carry out this part on her own. But she was beginning to understand that Psychro wasn't quite so shallow as she had originally believed. She could almost see that he cared about Ellis and felt guilty that she was in the situation she was in.

They also couldn't leave these Mutants on the ship, she realized Psychro was implying. They might determine where the duo had beamed down to and cut down the amount of time they had to get to safety.

"But we'll get in trouble," the other Jackal moaned.

"And you'll be in more trouble if I have to make you," Psychro replied, pointing at their two dead companions. Grudgingly the Mutants agreed and took them back down to the transporter room. Psychro took a spare transporter device and braced himself. Mandora knew that timing would be critical, but strangely had faith in him.

"Good luck," she said, as she watched Kal operate the controls. She saw Psychro blow her a kiss as he vanished from sight.

* * *

Reptos watched in delight as two male Equines fought before him. They had been instructed to fight to the death or ten children would be killed instead, including the two that were theirs respectively. The horses were fighting hard; punching, kicking, biting, doing everything they could to inflict injury. They were both exhausted, but struggled on until the slightly yellowy one ripped the jugular of the reddish one with his teeth. A chorus of cheers and boos went up from the crowd, and money began changing hands.

"Take him away and finish what his opponent started," Reptos said, clapping. Geckren approached, leaning heavily on a crutch that had been fashioned for him. "How goes the assault on that force field?"

"It's strong, brother, but we are stronger. We are Mutants of Plundarr!" he replied. The Equines had managed to squirrel away a large number of their population in that bunker, including their leaders, and that angered Reptos. He wanted to parade Fastwynd, Arra and Storm before him and kill each one personally for having the audacity to sentence him to death.

"Work harder then. I want... What? Psychro!"

* * *

She was surrounded by Mutants, many taking cruel liberties with her helplessness. Her chest was sore from being pinched, and her ears rung with the outlandish insults being hurled at her. The Mutants took great delight in reminding her where she was and what would happen if Psychro didn't show up. In fact, it was only the thought of Psychro, one of the few men she had ever cared about, that kept her going. Ellis wanted death, because it meant that Psychro would be spared this fate. And yet she sorely wanted to see him one last time. To tell him she still loved him.

And then he was there, standing at her shoulder and carrying a bracelet of some kind. He slapped it on her wrist even as Reptos cried out. Her heart hammered, fearing that he would soon be taken away from her again, but instead it was together that they were taken, appearing on the Mutant warship in the transporter room. She didn't know how Psychro and Mandora had done it, but she didn't care either. She got up off the ground and wrapped her arms around him. "Psychro!" she half sobbed, clutching to him as though to confirm to her mind that he was real and that he wasn't going anywhere.

"I know," he whispered, closing his eyes.

"I thought you were dead, I was so scared."

"And leave you like that? Not a chance in hell. I care too much about you to leave you at the hands of those Mutants." He kissed her cheek and pulled apart. "And speaking of Mutants, we'd better live up to our end of the deal." The two Jackals looked uncomfortably around and began entering commands on the control panel.

"What's to prevent them from beaming back up?" Psychro asked suddenly.

"We won't do that. We promise!" Kal said, though his friend looked like he had already thought of that and was annoyed that Psychro had too.

"Easy. They're going to beam down, I'll wait three seconds and beam their empty bracelets up. If they're attached to their bodies still, we'll kill them," Mandora replied, her monotone voice showing just how serious she was. The Jackals paled and put their hands on the bracelets, ready to remove them instantly upon arrival.

Once they were gone, and the bracelets had arrived back on the ship, Mandora turned her attention to Ellis and Psychro. "Put the bracelets on. I'll set the co-ordinates for the gully, we need to find that backdoor before the Mutants figure out where we went. I'm going to get a surprise ready for those Mutants, but if things get hairy, beam without me," she instructed.

They watched Mandora race from the room and waited nervously. Several minutes passed and they felt something rock the ship. Ellis clung to Psychro for support still, confused and more than a little scared. She had stared death in the eyes today, and all for the love of a man. She had started the day accepting that she would never see him again, and now she was safe in his arms. And yet her world was shattered. Gone were friends and family, her city was in ruins, and they were still being oppressed.

Another explosion sent them tumbling to the floor, and she blushed as her hand brushed against his crotch. "Sorry," he said, and she saw that smirk that drove her wild, "we don't have time for that now."

"How can you be so calm? What's happening out there?" she asked, helping him to his feet.

"You have to be calm," he replied, as though he were stating a fact. "I can't control what's happening out there. Besides, you're cute when you blush like that. The Mutants have probably figured out what ship we're on. We should get going."

Mandora burst through the door as he said it. "Let's go. Now!"

* * *

The gully had steep walls, and had the barest trickle of water running through it now. Were he more inclined, Psychro would wonder what geographical event had caused the water to stop flowing as greatly as it obviously once had. But he didn't care, he was more concerned with other things right now. Mandora was panting heavily as she looked skyward, drawing his eyes to her chest. She caught him staring and he grinned guiltily, though Ellis was too confused to notice the exchange. "What did you do?" he finally asked.

"I set the ship on a collision course with another ship and set the self destruct. That's one less ship the Mutants can use when Control gets here, hopefully it took out another one too," Mandora replied.

That made sense. It was dangerous, foolhardy, and probably qualified as insane, but it made sense. She would have had to set course for a ship far enough away to give her time to get to the transporter, but not so far away as to give the other ship much time to get out of the way. That took more faith than he would have had. Now there was just one more problem to deal with. "How do we find the safe house exit?" he asked.

"My helmet is calibrated with an infrared scanner," Mandora replied. "We'll just walk along the gully and find it. Worry about getting in once we get there." She actually smiled, to his great surprise. It was one that was intended to remind him that she was the great evil chaser Mandora and that she was firmly in control of the situation.

* * *

Mandora walked ahead of them, scanning left, right and centre for any signs of a hidden entrance. She wasn't sure what exactly she was looking for, but she was accustomed to looking for hidden things such as stray strands of hair or a smudged footprint, anything that might bring her closer to solving a case. Ellis and Psychro followed nervously behind her. There was no sign of pursuit yet, but that wasn't necessarily a good thing. As Psychro was fond of saying, a visible enemy was better than an invisible one.

But it wasn't just the situation that had Ellis feeling nervous. She was nervous because she had formed an image of Psychro in her head that Reptos had eroded, and she feared what the answer to her questions might be. "Psychro?" she asked, catching his attention. "Back in the city, back when I was... you know. Reptos said something about you sleeping with his sister. Is that true?"

She saw him glance in Mandora's direction, but the evil chaser was too preoccupied to be listening in on their conversation. The look alone answered the immediate question and she felt tears stinging her eyes. "It is. It was a stupid mistake. I was the three d's; drunk, desperate and disgusted by the whole thing." He stopped walking and took her chin in his hand. "Come on. You knew I wasn't a virgin. You had to realize there had been other women."

"I just..." she felt incredibly stupid suddenly. He was right. The skill he'd used on her had clearly been perfected on other women, she'd just never bothered to ask who they were. She wasn't sure if knowing that he'd been with a Mutant would have affected their relationship at all. She gulped again. "How many?"

"I don't like lying to women," he said bluntly, looking to see how far away Mandora was. "So please don't ask that. You won't like the answer."

She paled somewhat, trying to decide what kind of number he meant. She didn't want to straggle too far, so she jogged to catch up to where Mandora was. "I want to know," she said, bracing herself for the answer.

"Two hundred and thirty-two," he said flatly. "For what it's worth, you were one of the better ones."

"Two hund... I wasn't expecting triple digits," she said.

"Yeah, well. I'm always looking for the right woman, but few live up to my needs. I'm sorry, I tried to warn you. You need to know that I do love you, it's just that... I don't know. I never seem to be able to make it work," he said sheepishly. She slapped him, catching Mandora's attention. "I deserved that, I usually do. Look, you have every right to be angry with me."

Ellis sighed heavily, as Mandora resumed her hunting. "I'm not. Disappointed yes, but I can't be angry. You've been honest with me the whole way and it's my fault for jumping into bed without asking questions. You're..."

"Clean as can be. I've got some luck going my way in that regard. Only two pregnancies too, though I'm not sure if Mutants and Lunataks are compatible it wouldn't surprise me," he said. It sounded like he was accustomed to these questions.

"Found it!" Mandora called out suddenly, interrupting the conversation. When they came over the saw an indentation in the gully floor. Closer inspection revealed sets of footprints leading up to it, including one that looked like half of one. It was definitely a trap door of some kind, but Mandora hadn't a clue on how to open it. She walked around the door, tapping rocks and moving twigs.

"What about just knocking?" Ellis suggested, walking over to the panel and rapping on it with her fist.

* * *

From one of the Mutant warships, Reptos watched the trio carefully on the radar. His plan had been brilliant from the start. He had suspected, based on rumours he'd heard of Psychro's dedication to his women, that if he threatened to kill Ellis that he would come to the rescue, and if they captured him that would be excellent.

However, the true genius behind the plan was knowing that Psychro was the luckiest man in the universe. If anyone could snatch Ellis away from the middle of a crowd and get away, it was him. Hence he had placed a tracking device on Ellis' body while the girl was distracted, knowing that she would lead the Mutants to more prisoners. The radar indicated that they were staying in the one place, a spot not too far from the military building, but on the outskirts of the city, which he surmised meant that there was a back door to the place.

They probably didn't even realize it, he chuckled to himself, proud of how clever a Reptile he was. He had even arranged for his ships and foot soldiers to give them a wide berth so that they would be free to go wherever they liked. But now that would be unnecessary. He marked their location and waited.

* * *

Storm was the one to open the door. They had a security camera pointed outside the entrance, and he had seen them looking around. Brief debate had taken place before he finally let them into the stronghold. He had been the one to vote against letting them in. After all, the Equines were in this mess because of Mandora and Psychro, more one than the other if he understood correctly. Still, Fastwynd and Arra had voted against him, and the law was the law. "Ellis!" he said pleasantly, before addressing the others in a less pleasant tone. "You are expected in the bunker. Hurry." With nothing else to do, they followed him.

The tunnel led to a series of several rooms, most of which had dozens of people inside with more lingering in the hallway. The rooms themselves were sparsely furnished, and were possessed of little in the way of necessities. There was a bathroom, that was in constant use, and a storage of food that Mandora could tell wouldn't last this crowd a week. At the furthest end was the door that led outside. There were, from the sounds of it, many Mutants on the other side trying to get in. As the two outsiders entered the safe house, they found all eyes turning in their direction, some hostile, most merely curious.

The light blue stallion led the trio to a corner of the store room where Fastwynd and Arra were sitting. The radio Mandora had provided was sitting on top of one of the crates, to her relief. The couple stood and hugged the newcomers. "I was worried," Fastwynd said. "We heard some of the Mutants outside saying that Psychro had rescued Ellis, but we didn't dare hope to believe them. Gossip is dangerous, and you never know if they're lying."

"Your radio has been quiet," Arra said, seeing Mandora's gaze on it.

"There might be too much interference from the force field. I'll take it down the tunnel later and see if that helps."

"Do you really think Control can save us?"

"After getting us into all this trouble, I damn well hope they can get us out of it too," Storm snapped, earning him a nasty look from Fastwynd. Mandora could feel the eyes around her and knew that Storm was hardly the only one who felt this way. She couldn't blame them. They had been leading such peaceful lives until she and Psychro had arrived. Perhaps if they'd gotten off the planet sooner... No. It was pointless to speculate. She knew that she was right, that the Mutants or some other enemy force would have found Equidarr eventually.

"I believe so. Control has the capacity to defeat Plundarr if they had reason to do so. They should be able to handle the small assault force we've got here," Mandora said, trying to sound a lot more confident than she really was. Control would help, they had to help now that it had been asked for, but would it be too late? How long would the Mutant forces be able to hold off Control? Would the Equines in this shelter starve to death before that happened. Worst of all, what if someone caught ill? In these closed quarters, in this crowd, a disease would rip through them like wildfire.

"Then there's nothing we can do for now but wait."

* * *

Present day

"The Mutants waited, biding their time until it started getting dark out. Mandora tried using her radio in the tunnel, but the static was too much. We were in the dark, both literally and metaphorically. I've been in tough scrapes before, but this was getting too much..." Psychro said, swirling the dregs of his beer around.

* * *

Four weeks, two days ago.

Psychro was in the store room with Ellis, Mandora having wandered off to spy on the Mutants outside. Ellis was clearly still having difficulty grasping the nature of Psychro's sex life, and he was finding it hard to explain it to her without telling her too much information. Her own sexual experiences, by contrast, were limited to only three others. "She was a doctor," he said, answering a question about being in a similar situation. "But the roles were reversed. We'd gone camping on the Psion Moon, a place that's pretty much desert with the odd oasis. She fell and broke her leg, so I had to help her back to the city. Sira, her name was. Pretty little thing, bright blue hair, which was kind of weird. It was amazing the bond that we developed, how taking care of her became my whole world for the three days were out there. But it changed us, changed the way we looked at each other, once she healed. She ended it because she couldn't look at me and not remember the feeling of helplessness. I think that's why I felt from the beginning that we wouldn't work. It was the same situation."

"Wow. You never told me about that," Ellis said. He could tell that she wanted to argue the point, because after all, every relationship was different, that she was different than Sira, and would treat him better than that.

"Of course I didn't, I... what was that noise?" His ears pricked at the sound of an explosion of some kind, followed by screams of terror. He let out a few colourful curses, most of which Ellis wouldn't understand and none of which were appropriate for younger audiences, as he ran for the tunnel entrance. It didn't take a neurosurgeon to figure out what had happened, and his worst fears were confirmed when he saw Mutant soldiers and Equines warriors battling in the hall.

"You led them right to us!" Storm shouted over the cacophony. "Whose side are you on?"

"Shut up and fight!" Psychro responded, barely refraining from impugning the man's birth by implying that his mother had been less than faithful to her husband and had mated with a worm in a pile of filth that had been left sitting in the sun for a few days. There was a word for that in the Ice Lunatak tongue.

That the Mutants had broken through was demoralizing, and it meant that support from Control likely wouldn't get there in time. Psychro had seen the four winds device, though, and had no intentions of letting these disgusting creatures put him on it. He would die with his fists in the air.

"We have them on the run!" Fastwynd shouted, startling Psychro. The Mutants had the superior fighting ability and weapons. Why would they flee? That wasn't like them at all, unless...

"Warp gas! Charge before they can use it!" Mandora shouted over the din. He wasn't sure where she was, but she was closer to the exit than he was. It didn't surprise him that she had come to the same conclusion. The two of them were the only ones who had ever seen the Mutants in combat first hand, and warp gas was one of their favourite tricks. It reversed one's personality for a time, turning docile creatures violent and brave warriors into cowering simpletons. One of his exes had threatened to use it on him once. He couldn't remember why.

A thin noxious green cloud started seeping into the tunnel. One by one the Equines in front of him began shrieking and curling up, trying to get as far away from the Mutants as possible. Three of them, foolishly, bolted for the other door, thinking they might slip out that way. All it did was give the Mutants a second front of attack from which to pour their gas. He was weakening fast, he no longer felt like fighting. All he wanted to do was curl up under a blanket, preferably alone, and hide. But there were no blankets available, and hiding wouldn't do much good. Before too long he, Mandora, and the Equines were rounded up and brought before Reptos.

* * *

Psychro was thrown to the ground at Reptos' feet. He had been left untouched up to this point, but knew that that would change. Reptos was standing in the square in front of the government building, a large table had been found, and the Mutants were greedily eating from the trays of food their new Equine servants brought out, while bright spotlight shone down on them, illuminating the scene. All around him was decadence, the riches of Equidarr plundered for their masters' pleasure. He wasn't in the least bit surprised.

His focus, though, quickly was drawn to the man in charge. Reptos, flanked by Geckren, was resplendent in a silken white robe that he had no doubt pilfered. The robe was already stained with grease and blood. The two Reptiles smiled at him with looks that suggested that whatever amount of time he had left in life was not going to be full of sunshine and rainbows.

"So, Psychro, you decided to join us again. This time there won't be any disappearing acts," Reptos said, leaning down, his breath reeking of whatever he'd eaten in the last ten years. It was a known fact that Mutants didn't much believe in hygiene, and he was a shining example of it.

"That's too bad, I thought you liked magic shows," he quipped. It was too tempting to bait the Mutant, even though he knew he shouldn't. What he really needed to do was prolong the experience, and hopefully delay his execution until the next day when Control agents would sweep in. If he could manage to do that, he might have a chance.

"Oh, magic isn't my thing, but I do like shows, yes?" Reptos belted him hard in the jaw, sending the Lunatak sprawling on the ground. "You're going to provide us with ample entertainment before we end the party by making it rain Psychro bits. And I'm going to enjoy every second of it, yes?"

"Is that a question? Am I supposed to answer it?" Psychro asked, earning himself another punch. "Fine, fine. Yes, you are probably going to enjoy every part of it. That's why you're probably going to drag out my torture over a few days." His psychic reservoir was limited, but more than enough to sway the disgusting creature. It was obvious that he wanted to make Psychro suffer, so why not extend it further. He just never guessed the ulterior motives.

Reptos grinned and rubbed his chin in thought. "An excellent idea. In fact, I have a way to make your agony even more delightful. We're going to have a fight tonight. The two loves of your life, dying because of you. Mandora and Ellis will fight, and the loser will show you what happens on the four winds."

Or things could backfire, which meant he would really have to pour it on. He could only hope that no one had noticed the fear on his face. "You're just scared to fight me yourself, aren't you. Hiding behind women to do your dirty work, I'm impressed that anyone follows you, you're really one of the Jackalmen, aren't you!" he said, the last barb costing him another blow to the head.

"Maybe I should cut out your tongue. I am more than Reptile enough to take care of the likes of you, Lunatak scum, yes?" Geckren whispered something into Reptos' ear and the latter began chuckling. "Oh that is rich. Yes indeed. Both your women will die, Psychro, but I'm going to enjoy myself at their expense. Chain him in my room and bring Ellis in. I want him to watch as I defile her as he defiled Slythra."

Psychro blanched, relieved that Ellis wouldn't be dying any time soon, but certain that what was to come would be unpleasant for her. The Mutants were constantly inventing new ways to be cruel, and this met the definition. Four sets of hands grabbed him and dragged him into the government building.

* * *

Ellis screamed as she was dragged into what had once been Fastwynd and Arra's bedroom. Psychro felt helpless to do anything, watching while a pair of Simians relieved her of her clothes. He had been affixed to the wall using hastily installed chains, chains which he was in the process of trying to remove from the wall. Her terrified eyes locked with his as the Simians proceeded to strap her to the bed, with her head pointed in Psychro's direction.

He had never understood rape. Psychro had always firmly believed that if a woman didn't want to sleep with you, then it was final. You respected it. You could be persistent, he didn't see the harm in that, but you respected their desires. One of his friends had asked him once where his charm powers entered into it, whether that could constitute rape, but he disagreed. He wasn't changing their minds, that was not something he could do, he could sway them but not outright make them do something they weren't remotely interested in to begin with. He often agreed that it was a fine line, but that he was still largely in the right.

What Reptos was doing wasn't even for the sake of personal pleasure either, not in the traditional sense anyway, it was to anger Psychro. The Lunatak wasn't sure if that made what was about to happen better or not. He also wondered if his powers could make the situation less pleasurable for the Mutant, make her seem uglier or something. But if the Reptile wasn't satisfied, he might just decide to kill her to get some enjoyment out of her. And would he be bringing Mandora in here? To see the evil chaser trussed up like that would be the fantasy of many a hardened criminal, but he preferred such things to be voluntary.

Finally the Mutant himself entered the room, as the Simians vanished out the door. "Ah, my prize possessions. The man I loathe, and the woman to share my bed. Do it right, girl, and I might keep you," Reptos said. Ellis struggled harder against the bonds that held her in place. "There's no escape for you. You're mine."

* * *

Present day.

"The next hour was horrendous. Watching that disgusting Reptile have his way with her, unable to do anything but watch. Ellis, mercifully, blacked out part way through, I wish I could have done the same. I swore right then that Reptos would die at either my hands or hers for what he'd done. After about an hour, the booze took effect and he fell asleep," Psychro said, looking around the table and seeing that the same disgusted look was plastered on each member of his audience. It was reassuring to know that there were some universal truths on the moons, and rape was certainly one of them.

* * *

Four weeks, two days ago.

How long had it been, Mandora asked herself. The Mutants had been drinking heavily, so they contented themselves with ushering their prisoners into the dungeons and leaving it at that. If the morale of the Equines wasn't at an all time low, the evil chaser might have considered organizing a rebellion and making a break for it. The guards were inebriated enough that it might have a passing chance of working. Then again, the guards were also heavily armed, which would pose a problem. Still, anything was better than sitting in the cell waiting for either death or a rescue.

She wondered, then, whether the Mutants had found her radio. Would they realize that there was the potential for Control to intervene and save the day? Surely they would be getting things ready if they did, which made it more likely that they were ignorant of the situation. When Control did come, the fight would be violent; the Mutants weren't likely to surrender unless things looked very bad. They had the advantage with hostages, and were still formidable fighters.

Ultimately Mandora was trying to think of anything but what was going on with Psychro and Ellis. She had been present for his proclamations. While she wouldn't have enjoyed beating Ellis in a fight, one which she was reasonably certain she would have won, she enjoyed what was happening even less. Her heart ached for the poor woman whose only crime was trying to help two injured outsiders. For that, she had been put through so much. She felt for Psychro, who was doubtless feeling guilty for what was going on, and fear for herself. Realistically she knew that Reptos might call on her 'services' at some point to goad Psychro even more. Reptos had been present when she had offered herself to the Lunatak, and he would use anything at his disposal to get at the man.

Of all the people he could have slept with, why did it have to be with this man's sister. Surely, if his story was true, there had to have been other options. She looked around the cell, seeing nothing but gloomy faces. These people deserved better than this, and she hoped to be given the chance to bring the full power of the law against these Mutants. To ease her mind, help her relax enough to sleep, she began envisioning the potential charges she could bring against Reptos and his group, and the likely prison terms that went with them, and she went through them alphabetically. She was only on the 'Bs' before she fell asleep.

* * *

It was morning. The first rays of the golden sun were shining through the windows on to Psychro's face. He'd had a miserable sleep, as he had expected he would. Between sleeping upright in shackles, there was the situation he was in to make it less restful. He raised his head and saw that at some point during the night, Reptos had rolled off the bed and was now lying face down in a puddle of his own vomit. That was some small consolation, anyway. Ellis was still asleep too, her body bruised and marred by the activities of the previous night. Seeing it again made him tremble with rage, something he made a conscious effort not to do. He wasn't sure how heavy a sleeper Reptos was, and certainly didn't want him to wake up for several more hours. Hopefully, by then, Control would have arrived.

Mandora hadn't gotten them any updates, so he could only go off the most recent information. He hoped she was okay, too. He'd lost track of her when he'd been brought before the Reptile leader, and could only assume that she was still with the rest of the prisoners. What would the Mutants do to her? Had she been beaten, or had Reptos and Geckren placed her under their protection? Until he saw her again, he had no way of knowing.

* * *

Located deep in the storage area of the safe house, Mandora's radio sat unattended and unnoticed. The Mutants had been too focussed on the prisoners to pay it any heed. "This is Captain Buck, of the Bunndarrian ship Spray, calling Mandora. Come in please. We will be there shortly, hang in there."

* * *

"Augh, why does my head hurt?" Reptos groaned, his movement making Psychro wince. He hadn't slept in for nearly as long as he had been hoping for. The Reptile saw both Lunatak and Ellis and it all came back to him. The memory of what he had done brought a smile to his leathery face. If it wasn't for the hunger in his belly, exacerbated by the nausea he'd had last night, he might have considered violating the woman again. Still, he couldn't resist rubbing a little salt into the wounds. He took her face in his hands and turned her head to look at him. "Was it as good for you as it was for me?" he asked.

"Go to hell," she spat.

He calmly wiped the saliva off his face and walked over, still quite naked, to where Psychro hung. "And what about you? Was that up to your standards? You are the expert on love making, yes?"

"I'd give it a three. I, at least, brought her to orgasm. I didn't need to tie her up either." Reptos drove the wind out of Psychro's belly as he started to make another quip.

"I think I should have your tongue removed," Reptos said, looking to see if he had a knife on hand. He rummaged through first his clothes, and then the various drawers, but couldn't find anything suitably sharp. "Oh well. Maybe I'll do better with your evil chaser girlfriend tonight. There's a hefty price on her head back on Plundarr, so I can't kill her, but there's plenty of other things I can do, isn't that right Ellis?"

Reptos left them to consider what had happened, and to fetch himself something to eat. He would have Ellis freed from his bed and placed on the four winds. Spreadeagled for him and then spreadeagled for the torture device, as it were. He wondered if she had made that connection at some point during the night. He doubted it, she didn't look very smart.

Once he was gone, Psychro tried again to free his wrists from the manacles, but they wouldn't budge. "You're going to be all right," he said, trying to sound calm and confident. He knew she wouldn't believe it, but hoped that his charm power would ease her mind enough. The truth was that he had no guarantee that she would be fine. The events of this night might have scarred her for life, or she might be killed in a few moments, the Mutants were unpredictable, and it seemed to hinge on whatever Reptos thought might upset Psychro at any given moment.

That was probably the worst part of it. The gnawing guilt that said 'this is all your fault. Ellis wouldn't be here if it wasn't for you.' He was used to being in trouble, but never anything like this.

Except Icilia. She was an aberration though, committing suicide just because of what her father thought. She would still be alive if he'd never met her, or at least had used some kind of protection. But he had been young then, inexperienced and full of youthful rage. Impregnating her had been an act of revenge, which didn't make it better. But she was the only other one whose life he had ruined.

And Dalash, a Darkling woman he'd been with who had been the victim of an assassin's bullet that was intended to teach him a lesson. That had been the result of an angry uncle from a previous relationship, and he'd shied away from women for a long time after. Heavy Bevy had come after that, and he'd been so taken by the flattery, and so long without expending himself, that he had jumped at the chance.

So two other lives he'd ruined; three now. Of two hundred and thirty-two women. That wasn't bad odds. Just one percent. Well, actually, it might be more. So many of his relationships ended badly; Josa had been so upset that she had tried to frame him for murder, Anaela had warned him that she would rip his testicles off if she ever saw him again, and then there was Pekablu. She was a woman who had been so upset distraught that she had descended into alcoholism and sleeping with random men, looking for the one who could compare to Psychro. His life was really messed up when he thought about it.

"Psychro?" Ellis asked, startling him out of his thoughts. "When Control saves us, do you think they'll let me kill Reptos myself?" She spoke in a low voice, almost too quiet for him to hear. But even if he hadn't, the meaning was clear, and he couldn't blame her.

"If they don't, I'll stall them long enough for you to do it," he replied. That much he was certain of. No one would deny her revenge.

* * *

Mandora was awake and examining the cell's structure. There were structural weaknesses in the door, the result of few prisoners leading to little maintenance being done. It wouldn't be the easiest escape in the world, but it never hurt to be prepared. If and when Control attacked, it was imperative that the Equines provide a greater distraction. Staying in the cells meant that they could more easily be used as hostages, too. Her superiors wouldn't approve of her getting civilians involved in the fight, but a case could be made that a people who were made to feel self-sufficient would be more valuable allies.

Allies were something that the people of Equidarr would be needing in abundance once this was over. Now that the Mutants of Plundarr knew where their horse brethren were, it was only a matter of time before they tried to wipe them out. Only with Control's assistance could they keep the Mutants away, and she hoped that Fastwynd, Arra and Storm understood that.

As she did her rounds, she saw that most of the other captives were awake, sitting motionless or talking quietly. That was typical, from her experience, no one wanted to make themselves obvious in case one of the Mutant jailers decided to have some fun. Not that the jailers were really in any condition to do much torturing anyway. Visible from her angle were two Simians, sleeping back to back, with a spilled bottle of booze on the floor between them. With evidence like this, it was almost a wonder that the Mutants were the power they were in the galaxy. But she had seen them fight. Between ferocity and sheer numbers, she knew what the Mutants were capable of.

A look at the women she was imprisoned with, the men and children being segregated and kept elsewhere, told Mandora what else the Mutants were capable of. Here a woman with deep teeth marks in her arm. There a woman whose feet looked to be made of hamburger meat. Atrocities left right and centre met her cold gaze, and she recorded it all for potential hearings. She didn't know how much of it would stick, but she was determined to press as many charges as she could.

* * *

Reptos returned sometime later. Ellis had been taken away, though the Mutant guards wouldn't say to where, leaving Psychro alone with the fat Reptilian. He had obviously come back from lunch, as there was the remnants of oatmeal all over his chest. He was surprised to see that they would actually stoop to eating such fare, but supposed the lack of meat on the planet accounted for it. He wondered if they would devour the Equine dead. He hadn't heard much about Mutants partaking in what might be considered cannibalism, but it probably wasn't uncommon either.

"So, Psychro, it's just you and me. What should I do to you next?" Reptos asked, walking over and sticking one scaly finger in his chest. Frankly Psychro was just happy that he had put on some clothes again.

"I don't know. Your stench is torture enough," the Lunatak replied. Reptos snarled and slapped him hard across the jaw.

"I was hoping to break your spirit before I had you killed. Now I think I will just break every bone in your body." He reared back and punched Psychro in the groin, doubling him over as much as possible under the circumstances. "What's the matter? No more witty remarks? Too hurt to talk, yes?"

"Bite me."

"I think I will," Reptos grinned locking his jaws into Psychro's biceps, enjoying the cries of pain that he made as they sank into his flesh, drawing blood. "Tastes like fear, I like that flavour on you. It's so stimulating."

"Glad you're getting off on this." This remark earned him another blow to the groin, and his eyes welled up in pain. This was hardly the first time his had taken this kind of abuse, but one never got used to it. He might have received more strikes if an aide hadn't chosen that moment to run into the room. "This had better be important, yes?"

The Jackalman saluted hastily. "It is sir, oh it is. Please believe me. One of our ships has reported a large fighting force heading our way. Control ships and Bunndarrian ships," he said, flinching back almost immediately. Psychro could hardly believe that the Jackalmen were among the surviving Mutant forces. Their cowardice was legendary, though maybe that was why they lived, they weren't worth the bother to exterminate.

Reptos was furious though, and the Jackal had every right to be fearful. His face was turning a purple colour, and Psychro would not have been surprised to see steam pouring out of his ears. "What? How could they know what we were doing?" he rounded on Psychro. "You! This is somehow your fault, yes? You and that Mandora. I knew I should have killed you both when I had the chance." He belted Psychro hard across the face one more time. "Tell every commanding officer to get back to their ships. I'll deal with you later." Then both he and the Jackal left the room again.

* * *

Something was happening, Mandora could feel it. Someone had come rushing into the detention block and said something to the Simian guards, causing all of them to bolt back upstairs. There was only one likely thing that could be causing this kind of reaction. Help was on the way, which meant the time to act was now.

Running over to the cell door, Mandora kicked hard on the lowest door hinge, cracking it off on the first try. She was grateful that the Equines believed in having actual doors rather than relying on force fields for their prisoners. The truth was that she agreed with the policy. A power outage could prove disastrous if the back-ups weren't up in time. Control had experienced that joy on more than one occasion. With actual doors there was less chance of that happening. Granted, she would not have been able to escape as easily if they had used force fields.

The doors weren't kept in repair, and the second hinge snapped with a little more effort than the first. Soon the door clattered to the ground outside. She waited a second, listening, but didn't hear the sound of footfalls. That meant that the Mutants were too occupied with Control that they couldn't be bothered with their prisoners. That was good. "All right, people, listen up. The cavalry has arrived, but they're going to need your help in defeating the Mutants." She regretted the choice of words, but doubted that the few women that had been in the cell with her would take offence at the use of the word 'cavalry'. "There aren't many of us now, but if we can find the keys to the cells, we'll have more."

The dozen or so women scattered through the cell block, some banging on the doors, and others trying to pick the locks. Mandora had her own idea. She moved through the cells until she found Arra, who was busy watching her door being picked. "Arra. There must be a set of keys around somewhere. Do you know where they would be?" she asked.

"Oh! Of course! At the top of the stairs, in the side room, there's a cupboard. They're behind a false panel inside," the white mare said, mildly annoyed that she hadn't thought of that solution herself.

Mandora nodded and bolted towards the stairs, stepping around the large table in the middle of the guardroom located at the bottom, which was presently covered with playing cards and half empty bottles of liquor. She moved as swiftly as she dared while maintaining a certain level of quiet. The Mutants might not be in this room, but they might not be far away either.

There was another reason to hurry. It would be just like the Mutants, from what she knew of previous conflicts, to give the order to exterminate the prisoners out of spite. She and her dozen women might be able to hold off a few guards, but none of them looked like they were particularly trained for combat.

She reached the top of the stairs easily. There was a door that led outside, she remembered from being led this way, and another that was surely the one that Arra had been referring to. It was an office of some kind, she saw as she opened the door. A desk, file cabinets, a computer system, and a cupboard. Perfect. She opened it up and found the keys hanging on a small hook behind a false panel.

Taking a moment to look out the window, Mandora evaluated the situation. The bulk of the soldiers for both sides would be airborne, fighting in their space ships and the like. She doubted that there were too many people left on the ground, and the story outside confirmed it. The previous day the courtyard to the government building, visible from here, had been teaming with Mutants and their slaves. Now there only appeared to be three or four. There was still a mess from the celebration, and the vile four winds device was outside still. Someone was on it, Mandora realized with a start, and a Rat was standing next to it, looking concerned around him.

She bolted back down the stairs and handed the keys to a tawny coloured mare. "Here. Unlock the doors and send everyone up to the next landing," she said. In a crisis situation, it was more important for her to be at the forefront of the battle than below. Someone needed to keep order, and to keep everyone calm, and she was the best suited for the job.

While she waited for everyone to arrive, Mandora tried to figure out the best strategy was. How twitchy would the Rat by the four winds be? How many more Mutants were there? Were there other prisoners? It was important to keep her group together, but not become obvious targets for an aerial attack. Taking the military headquarters was the second most important thing to do, after rescuing whomever was in the torture device. There would be weapons of some sort around that they could use to defend themselves and hopefully equipment that she could use to co-ordinate with Control.

The first group of Equines arrived, champing at the bit to exact some revenge. This was where things could get out of hand. She needed to stress the importance of taking prisoners and not killing. Arra was in that first batch, thankfully. The Equines might listen to one of their own leaders, provided that she could convince Arra. "Listen up!" she shouted. "On my signal we're going to run out that door. Everyone stay organized and don't leave the square for any reason. I counted three Mutants earlier, and we want them taken alive. Let the courts handle their punishment. I know what they did to you was cruel, but you are better than they are. Capture them and hold them. We have to be quick. They have someone on that four winds device, and we don't want them to kill anyone else."

There was grumbling, and a general thirst for blood. It was palpable in the air, and Mandora thought she was going to lose them until she heard a voice in the back of the crowd. "Mandora's right. We left Plundarr because we are not like those Mutants. We are Equines, and we are superior. We only kill to protect, not for revenge. We should do as Mandora says, all of us." She recognized that voice. Storm. It was refreshing to have the support, and the crowd seemed to accept his word as truth.

She placed her hand on the door, ready to lead the charge. "Thank you, Storm. On the count of three we go. One, two, three!"

The door swung open and a veritable rainbow coloured horde of Equines poured out with Mandora at the head of the pack. The three Mutants Mandora had seen, plus a fourth who had presumably been hidden from sight, were taken by surprise and clumped by the four winds. "Don't come any closer, or this one gets it," the Rat sneered, his hand twitching on the handle. Now that she was nearer, Mandora saw that it was Ellis strapped down, experiencing the cruel device for the second time. She looked horrible, and the evil chaser suspected that the damage done to her mentally would be there for years to come.

"Don't be stupid, Rat. I've got a mob here who wouldn't hesitate to rip you to shreds. The only thing keeping them from doing so is me. But if you pull that lever, you'll wish it was you on that thing before they're through with you," she replied. "I am evil chaser first class Mandora, and you're all under arrest. Surrender yourself now and the court might have mercy on you."

"M...Maybe we should do what she says, Rizzan," a Simian said, watching as the Equines surrounded them.

Mandora could feel the tension. Her control of the group was hanging by a very thin thread, and she wasn't sure how much longer she could keep them reined in. If that Mutant did something foolish then her prediction was sure to come true.

"Bah, I'm not scared of you," his hand twitched again, and Mandora's breath caught in her throat. Mentally she prayed that he wouldn't do it, prayed that there was some modicum of common sense in that tiny brain of his, and maybe her prayers were answered. Reluctantly he let go of the handle and stepped aside. "But sometimes it's better to live to fight another day." A whoop came from the crowd, as they rushed to secure the four Mutants and free Ellis from her bonds again.

"Oh Mandora!" the mare cried, stumbling off the four winds and running to her. "You have to rescue Psychro. He's up in Fastwynd's bedroom I hope he's still alive."

And there it was. A threat to Mandora's sense of duty. There were plenty of excuses; she needed to help secure the prisoners, it was more important to take the military building, Fastwynd and Arra knew the route better than she did. But none of them spoke to the vague sense of attachment she felt towards Psychro. She'd been trying to deny it for too long, having been caught up in the current events, but there was a burning nugget of desire. Her brain, the police officer side, piped up that Psychro was technically her responsibility, as she had arrested him for that broken tail light what felt left eons ago. It was stretching the truth.

"Storm. You and the bulk of the people here take the military headquarters. Gather as many weapons as you can and stay there. Fastwynd, you and a group take these prisoners down to the jail and keep an eye on them; treat them well, but only to a point. Arra, you, Ellis, and a dozen others will come with me to your bedroom. We might find resistence on the way, so be ready for anything," she said, gesturing as she went, dividing the Equines into those she thought would be the most useful if there were problems. The group splintered off to their assignments, and Mandora hoped she was doing the right thing.

* * *

Reptos scowled, looking at the damage reports that were pumping in over his monitor. Two warships had taken massive damage and had been forced to retreat, and each of his seven others weren't faring much better. The Control ships were too good, and there were simply too many Bunndarrians. He was going to lose this fight, and he knew it.

"Arrgh!" a Jackal howled, as an explosion knocked him from his seat. He looked almost apologetic for disturbing his leader.

"Port weapons down, brother," Geckren noted, pounding on the control panel.

"Are transporters still operational?" Reptos asked, rising suddenly.

"Yes. Why?"

He walked to the door and paused, glancing back with a hint of madness in his eyes, and he answered as though there were only one logical thing to do. "There is one matter to take care of. If we are to lose, at least I will have some satisfaction. I am going to go kill Psychro, yes."

* * *

Faintly Psychro could hear the commotion. Fastwynd and Arra's bedroom window was pointing the opposite direction from the square, giving what he could only assume was a pleasant view of the countryside. So Control had finally come, then, with whatever allies they'd been able to rope into joining them. That was a good thing, so why wasn't he feeling better about it? Oh right, because he was still shackled helplessly to the wall with a multitude of bruises welling up on his chest, groin and face, not to mention the horrible gash left by Reptos' teeth. His wrists hurt from hanging all night, and his neck and back ached from standing so long.

How long had he been left here alone? One hour? It had to be at least an hour since Reptos had left. His eyes roamed around the room, taking in the strange knick knacks and pictures that seemed to be everywhere. Some had been broken in the plundering of the quarters, but much of it must not have appealed to the Mutants. He wondered if that's where the planet had gotten its name, from all the plundering its inhabitants did.

There was blood on the floor, too, having dripped from the wound in his arm. That he couldn't apply pressure to the wound made it worse. There was some blood on the mattress too, but he tried not to look at it, that would only remind him of what had happened in this room. Trying to keep his thoughts from heading down that road, telling himself that soon Control would burst through the door and save him from this nightmare, he started going through his list of girlfriends.

* * *

Mandora's group ran into a pair of Jackalmen who were greedily grabbing food from the kitchen. An apple hung loosely from one's mouth, while the other was holding the lid of a pot, having been peering inside. Immediately they surrendered, which created a new problem for Mandora. She didn't really want to divide her force in two, but they couldn't just leave them here. "Come with us," she snapped, figuring it was the best thing to do with them. If they ran into more Mutants, she might have to reconsider, but it would do for now.

"Up this way, a little further," Arra said, pointing.

* * *

"Number one hundred and twenty; Paeder of House Snowskin. The lucky girl developed early and often, beautiful woman who had a bright career ahead of her. If I'd known she'd become captain of the flagship I might not have left her, but then her neighbour was hot too. Number one hundred and twenty-one, Pacqin of House Snoeflay, she was an older woman with the most succulent lips you'll find. Too bad she had a fondness for spicy foods, I might have stayed with her longer if she hadn't," Psychro said. The list was long, but each woman held a special place in his heart, and he remembered most of them. Suddenly he found Reptos appearing in the room, a long handled battle axe in one hand. "Reptos! I hadn't even gotten down to number two oh nine yet."

"Enough! We may be losing up there, but you're not going to see the victory party," he hissed, walking closer.

Okay then, Psychro thought quickly to himself, this was serious. If he didn't act quickly he'd be headless, while some would argue it was an improvement, he didn't see the benefit. He ran through his options. Certainly his charm powers wouldn't be much use, not against an angry opponent like that, unless he wanted a slightly quicker death.

* * *

Present day.

"Wait, what number was I?" Halleya asked, interrupting.

"He's een the meeddle of an action scene. Do you mind?" Tug Mug said.

"And not the kind of action you're thinking of either," Luna said. Psychro looked stunned. He hadn't even been aware of the queen of the Lunataks arriving, but here she was. His ego liked to think that word of his storytelling had reached her ears, though in all likelihood it was co-incidental.

"Fine, just for you. Number two hundred and twenty-five. Halleya of the Royal Moon. I was broke when I came to her bar, the tragic victim of a mugging, she offered to pay me one beer for every orgasm I gave her. I had five beers that night," he winked at her, pleased when her face turned a darker shade of red.

"The last one barely counted," she mumbled.

"May I continue then?"

* * *

Four weeks, one day ago.

As Reptos moved closer, weighing the heavy battle axe in one hand against the other, Psychro knew that he only had one option. It would require the greatest timing of his life, but he thought he was up to the challenge. With his feet free, he would have to try and deflect the swing up so that it hit his chains, hopefully snapping them and, more importantly, not rendering him armless. "For defiling my sister, you will die!" the Reptile roared, sweeping the axe at his exposed throat. At the last second Psychro swung his feet up, knocking the sharp blade up and causing it to hold fast in the drywall behind him. Reptos stared stupidly at the weapon for a moment and at Psychro's head, still attached to his neck, before trying to jerk the weapon free from the wall's grip. "Die with dignity," he snapped, barely avoiding another kick from the desperate Lunatak.

"I don't have dignity," Psychro said, waiting for Reptos to step back in range. "You should've brought a gun. You might have a chance, then again I've heard about your aim."

Reptos charged again, this time stopped by the sound of the door slamming against the wall. Arra stood in the doorway for only a fraction of a second before Ellis was forcing her aside. Primal rage engulfed her as she closed the gap between herself and Reptos, tackling him to the ground and hitting him as hard as she could. Blood spattered every which direction as her fists rendered his face unrecognizable. Psychro felt a strange mixture of horror and pleasure at the sight. He hadn't known that such an animal lived inside her, but her couldn't say he was surprised. Reptos was getting exactly what he deserved, and even with the dozen others present, separating them was next to impossible.

The blood lust faded, Ellis allowed herself to be pulled away and comforted, while Mandora checked for vitals. "He's alive, barely. I doubt even Control has the technology to help him though. We'll try, and if he lives he'll probably face a lengthy trial. I'll push for the death penalty, but our courts don't like giving it out," she reported calmly.

"He's better off dead," Ellis spat, tears streaming down her face. She and Mandora seemed to realize that Psychro was still hanging there at the same time and both women moved to help.

Mandora was closer, and rummaged in Reptos' pockets until she found the key to the manacles, which she then passed on to Ellis. The Lunatak practically fell into her arms, and she helped ease him over to the bed. "So, does that mean we won? It's finally finished?" he asked.

"Not yet. There's still plenty of Mutant waste to get rid of. But I'd say the bulk of it is over," Mandora said. "We'd better get back down with the others before they worry about us. You two can carry him, unless you'd like to be like him." The pair of Jackalmen, who had been transfixed by the sight of the crazed Equine mare, hastily moved to carry Reptos outside. Mandora took the lead, followed by Ellis, supporting Psychro, Arra and the others.


	4. Chapter 4

Psychro Always Gets His Man...dora  
By Jonathan J. Prideaux  
Epilogue

The battle in space, as Mandora had surmised, was basically over. Geckren, as commander of the Mutant forces in his brother's absence, finally issued a surrender. The Mutant prisoners on the surface were taken away and the city was returned to the hands of the Equine council. As the day began to wane, a supply convoy from Bunndarr arrived and food was handed out for a celebratory dinner. There was a mixture of sorrow and cheer in the air over the events. On the one hand so much had been lost, many Equines had perished either in combat or simply at the cruel whims of the Mutants. But new friendships had been made, and a new inner strength in their own people had been found. They might have been beaten, but they had not broken when the call came.

The three members of the Equine council gathered in front of the crowd of people, along with Psychro, Mandora and a number of the ranking Control and Bunndarrian officers. "Fastwynd, Arra, Storm. It is on behalf of the Interplanetary Control Force that I extend an offer to help you rebuild your city. We have medical and building supplies available if you want them," Captain Buck said, loudly enough that the crowd could hear. Both sides knew that the offer would be accepted, there was virtually no choice in the matter.

"For too long the people of Equidarr have lived apart from the rest of the galaxy, that is no longer possible. We see how wrong we were now, and we thank you for your help. Mandora, Psychro, I would formally like to tell you that all charges against you have been dropped, you have done us a great service, and you will always have a home here," Fastwynd said, shaking the Bunndarrian's hand.

"Hey, Manny, I guess that means you're not a hardened criminal anymore," Psychro chuckled, earning him a glare from the evil chaser. "I mean, thank you Fastwynd, it's an honour to be welcomed on your planet. I just wish that our friendship could have been under better circumstances."

"That's better," Mandora whispered.

The gathering lasted a while longer, no one really wanting to go home and see what, if anything was left of their houses. The buildings themselves were still largely intact, but many of the possessions had been looted, and doors or windows had been smashed, but gradually everyone did make their ways home. Psychro and Mandora returned with Ellis to her home, mostly at her request that she not have to spend the night alone.

* * *

Psychro stared up into the night sky, his back against the little house that Ellis called home. It was a funny concept. He'd lived places, spent his time travelling from here to there, but rarely did he think of anywhere as home. Technically, if one wanted to be picky, he resided on the Ice Moon in a series of caves that belonged to his family. The House Myntaello wasn't a big clan, really only himself and his twin sister considered themselves to be members, but the place was still there, and he still sought refuge in it. It would just be his, soon. Psikaris was moving, being bonded to Cameo with a baby on the way. His arm ached still, but it had been tended to, as had the bulk of his other wounds. Nothing was critical, though, so they had sent him home, ordering him to back the following day for a follow-up.

His world was changing. Ghosts of his past were creeping back into his life to haunt him, he was getting older too. What happened next? Would he grow old and die alone? Should he actually settle down, accept that there were going to be patches in his sex life when things got dull and routine? It was sobering. He was who he was, and yet he had seen on this planet what happened when one was unwilling to change; it could cost him everything.

Once he had been content to be the free spirit, the dashing rogue who swept women off their feet. And now? He glanced towards the window of the house, still lit, showing that Ellis was awake still. Mandora too, no doubt. Should he give up the chase with Mandora and Chilla? Maybe this was the place to start over his life, just as the people of Equidarr were starting over their lives.

The stars twinkled brightly and he stared at them, trying to pick out constellations. Somewhere out there was a place that he lived but was not home called the Ice Moon. And somewhere out there was a woman named Chilla whom he loved but did not return it. He had something here. He could stay and help rebuild, live with Ellis, find out if their species were compatible.

Visions of the potential horrors of what the children would look like scattered his deep thoughts, little Psychros with Equine faces in a rainbow of colours. No. His original thoughts were probably right. He needed somewhere that felt like home, and this place with its sun, its orchards, its warmth... it wasn't it. Even if he did stay, he would never be able to look at Ellis and not remember what had happened to her because of him.

Chilla's promise surfaced again in his head. "If you can sleep with a woman of my choosing, I'll go out with you on a date." That woman was Mandora, and Chilla was the prize at the end of that road. His gut, and his crotch, swore that she was the one. The one with whom he could settle down and live with. Sure, it would mean gaining both a son and a grandson, a grandson who was the same age as he, but he figured she was worth it. He was sure this time, unlike all those others.

It was getting late. The light in the bedroom flicked off, indicating that Ellis had finally gone to bed. He knew that he should probably be going to bed as well. He dusted himself off and went back inside, locking the door. He didn't know what the future would hold, but it probably wouldn't be boring.

* * *

Present day.

A light, if sarcastic, applause surrounded the table. "Deep," Tug Mug said, "but eet doesn't look like much has changed. What about that floozy you were weeth when I came een here? Surely you aren't going to pull rabbits out of a hat for her."

"Sex and women are like a drug to me, it's a cruel mistress and it's a hard habit to break. Besides my libido knows that Chilla isn't likely to put out for a long time, and I need something to tide me over," he replied. "Actually that's only partly true. One of my options was taken away from me too, as I would learn. The restoration efforts on the city continued, but other events were going on behind the scenes."

* * *

Three weeks, five days ago.

Mandora was working in the hospital, helping an injured Equine back in bed from a bathroom stop. Once the patient was settled she allowed herself a minute to take a deep breath and soak in the situation. There were so many injured and so few to take care of them. Control had sent a large number of paramedics to assist, but even with that it wasn't enough. She never got used to this part, seeing the results of crime and hatred only stoked the fires of justice within her. The only reassurance she found at this stage was that the ringleaders of Reptos' men were safely in custody and would find themselves before a judge before too long.

"Do you require anything else?" she asked the grey stallion, but he shook his head. A report had come in earlier in the day indicating that emergency surgery had failed, and that Reptos had died from his wounds. That was a shame. She couldn't blame Ellis for what she had done, though an inquiry would likely be had, but it would have been nice to see him hauled before the courts and given a heavy sentence to deter future would-be conquerors.

With her immediate job done, Mandora left the room and went back to the main desk to see if there was anything else she was needed for. She was basically done for the day, but would continue to help if it was needed. "You look worn out, go home and rest. There's more to do tomorrow," the head nurse said, patting her shoulder comfortingly. "Ellis was looking for you earlier, by the way."

She knew where Ellis would be. Psychro had joined them this morning on the journey back into the city, to make sure that his arm wasn't getting infected from Reptos' bite. The prognosis was looking good right now, but there was little guarantee it wouldn't worsen. The rest of his bruises were healing well, though, and Ellis would be there. They had shared a special kind of bond through whatever had happened in that room; neither would say, but Mandora could guess.

As it turned out, Ellis was just exiting the room when Mandora approached. She seemed strangely focussed, and greeted the evil chaser with a firm handclasp. "You have a minute?" she asked, ushering Mandora outside.

The hospital wasn't located far from the government building, but neither woman wanted to revisit that neighbourhood right now. Instead they walked along outside the building, shaded from the summer sun by a few trees here and there. The city wasn't looking too bad, but there were still grim reminders that the Mutants had been there. For better or worse the Mutants had actually been reasonably conscientious about the hospital, taking everyone prisoner, but not doing as much damage to the building as they had done to some of the homes. As they walked, they could see a home owner installing a new window on their house. "How is he?" Mandora asked finally, breaking the silence.

"He's doing well. I think he was flirting with one of the nurses. She seemed grateful when I showed up, anyway. I think that's just the way he talks, to be honest. He was asking about you, actually. He rarely sees you, because you're pushing yourself so hard here. He's worried, and I think he likes you," Ellis said, as the barest hint of colour touched Mandora's cheeks.

"He likes my body," she replied, "and what it can do for him." Both women understood what she meant, though Mandora suspected that she knew better than Ellis. She wasn't the sort who would get into details, and she really didn't think it was her place to explain just why Psychro was interested in her body.

There was a long silence before Ellis stopped suddenly. "I want to join Control," she said.

"What?"

"I've been thinking for a long time that the way things are on this planet are not the way I think they should be, and after what happened here I don't think I can ever call this world home again. What I went through was wrong and I want to help people, help victims of injustice like myself."

"It's a lonely life," Mandora noted. "You'll have little time for friends or family. But if that's what you want, I'll put in a good word for you. We're always looking for more people, and once you pass our screening program we'll find a position for you."

"Thank you, Mandora. I knew you would help. You know, I'm so glad I chose to rescue you and Psychro that day. It cost me a lot, but I gained so much at the same time. You two have been the best friends I've had in a long while. Thank you," Ellis said, throwing her arms around the other woman.

"Don't thank me yet. It's a lot of hard work, you might just regret it. Now come on, we'd better go rescue whatever nurse is working on Psychro now," Mandora chuckled, leading the way back inside.

* * *

They found Psychro in his room, a stallion prodding the healing wound with his fingers. Both women smiled knowingly at each other, realizing that there was no chance that he was hitting on this one. It was even odds that one of the female nurses had refused to tend to him precisely because of the flirting. Mandora was actually inclined to agree with Ellis, he probably wasn't actually flirting with any of the staff, it was just his nature. She suspected that he really wasn't interested in pursuing another relationship with an Equine at this point, especially given how his eyes lit up when the duo entered the room.

Either that or he was trying to figure out a way to get them interested in a threesome. The thought sent shivers up her spine. There was nothing personal against Ellis, Mandora really did like the woman, but the Equine features were just too jarring to be remotely sexual for her. Truthfully, even Psychro's purple tinted and cool to the touch skin was off putting, and yet she couldn't deny that there was an attraction on that count.

"Hey! The doc says I shouldn't have to come back for a checkup," Psychro said cheerfully, swinging his feet off the bed and getting into a seated position..

"That's right. His wound isn't showing any signs of getting worse, and is actually healing rather well," the doctor said.

"I guess Reptos didn't have rabies or anything at least." He looked a little guilty as he said it, casting a glance at Ellis. In a rare moment of candidness Ellis had mentioned that the doctors had looked for sexually transmitted diseases and found no traces of any. It was a bright spot in an otherwise horrendous experience.

"Oh! Mandora says she might be able to get me a job with Control," Ellis said, in a clear attempt to change the subject. Nonetheless Psychro seemed pleased to hear the news, though there was a flicker of something on his face.

"Hey, that's great. You'll be great at it, and with Manny's recommendation, you're a lock to get in. Now let's bust out of this place and get home. I'm getting hungry." With that, Ellis took the lead and drove them back to her house.

* * *

Geckren sat in the holding cell on board the Control ship 'Excallibur' having just received news about his brother. He hadn't heard much about what had happened to Reptos, but it wasn't too hard to piece together the events. Reptos had gone to kill Psychro, Mandora arrived, and Reptos came out with severe injuries. The fact that the evil chaser and her filthy Lunatak boyfriend were able to dance all over the law and get away with murder filled him with rage. He had long suspected corruption among those evil chasers, and despite Mandora's vaunted reputation as being incorruptible, here she was proving herself just as bad an apple as the rest of them.

He rubbed the casts that adorned both legs and quietly swore that some day he would track down both Mandora and Psychro and make them pay for what they had done. In fact, Psychro had a sister of his own that Geckren could use for revenge. Yes, they would suffer dearly for the murder of Reptos. His laughter filled the cell, startling his cell mate and causing many of the guards to look nervously in his direction.

* * *

Present day.

"Psychro. When are you going to get to how you banged Mandora? I'm missing my soaps to listen, and I'm not even hearing anything interesting. The Bald and the Beautiful is on in an hour, so if you don't get to the good part..." Luna warned, referring to the show that featured a balding Psion family that were leaders in the fashion industry. Alluro had been trying to get on it, just to bug her. As queen, she had the power to prevent it.

"Amok smash," her brutish Guardian finished.

"You people have no taste for a good story," Psychro sighed, as those around the table agreed with Luna. It didn't really matter. Most of the rest of the time leading up to the climax of his story, not counting the climaxes he'd had with Ellis, were spent helping with the recovery efforts. "Fine, fine. Nothing much happened for a while. Mandora, Ellis and I helped out where we could, rebuilding damaged buildings, trying to get stolen goods back to their original owners and the like. With nothing better to do I started repairing Mandora's Electrocharger. Then, finally it happened."

"About time," Luna muttered.

* * *

One week, two days ago.

It was early afternoon. The worst of the work that needed to be done had been taken care of, and the Equines had assured Control that they would be able to handle things on their own now. There were other worlds that needed the Interplanetary Force's help and many of the officers were eager to get on their way. Tranzis was pleased to be able to put a satisfying close to the Equidarr file, all that remained were the court proceedings, and those weren't her department.

The Equines and Bunndarrians had signed a mutual support treaty, based on their similar histories with the Mutants, and the Rabbits agreed to linger a little longer to help with repairs. A trade pact was opened and soon the rich exotic foods of Bunndarr began filtering in.

For his part, Psychro worked hard on the Electrocharger, though his own ship was hopelessly damaged. He felt rather smug in his abilities as a mechanic, in that it was soon space-worthy again and purring like a kitten. Something was bothering him, though. He had noticed for the last several days that Mandora was avoiding him, spending more off-duty hours hanging out with Ellis and the other Control Officers. This wasn't unusual in itself, she was more than entitled to do so, but it seemed to him that she would find excuses to leave the room shortly after his arrival, or decide to turn in early.

He hopped on the motorcycle and took it for a test drive, leaving the confines of Ellis' home and venturing into the city to refuel and pick up some sweetbread from a stand. He knew that he would either be heading home soon or going to jail. He wasn't looking forward to the experience, but he'd been in jail before. It didn't bother him much. Besides, it was only a broken taillight, so he probably would just get a fine. If anything, a jail record would only help his reputation with some of the ladies, as they sought to reform him, or some nonsense like that, trying to help the 'bad boy' see the error of his ways. He didn't think such a strategy would work on Chilla, but she was an almost complete mystery to him.

The house was empty, as he arrived back at Ellis' home. The two ladies had left for the city, and even then Ellis had said something about spending the night visiting with Raidash. The two hadn't seen each other since during her ministering of Psychro and Mandora and they had a lot to catch up on.

* * *

Present day.

"Psychro," Luna warned.

"Oh hush. I'm just establishing mood," Psychro replied, purposefully taking a swig of beer to irk the queen.

"Establish faster."

* * *

One week, three days ago.

It was almost time, Mandora accepted. Control was pressing that she finish up what she was doing and catchup on her patrols. Her route had been temporarily filled by another officer so that she could assist in the reparations, but the main reason she hadn't left was because of Psychro. As long as the two of them were still on the planet, she had the luxury of putting off a decision on what to do with him. Her mind and body quarrelled over him.

On the one hand, she desperately wanted to take him up on his offer for sex. No one would believe him if he went around bragging about it, and she could deny it to protect her own reputation. Oh sure, some people would suspect it was true, but people suspected all kinds of things about her. She had even provided some of those rumours herself to enhance her efficiency. She figured, if a suspect believed her to be unstoppable and unswerving they might surrender and confess a little quicker. Her body had been too long without intimacy of any kind, and it ached for the loving touch of a man, a situation made worse by her damaged hormone suppressant.

On the other, he was a felon, albeit a minor one. He needed to go before a judge and face the music for his criminal action. The law was the law. It did not bend, and would not break. Besides, sleeping with him would only validate what some of her peers said about her and stoke his ego, neither of which she approved of.

Who am I kidding, she thought miserably, as she and Ellis worked on her orchard. The trees were brimming with apples and Mandora had volunteered to help. Psychro was on the other side of the house, putting the finishing touches on her motorcycle. She'd caught sight of him working topless, obviously warm and had forced herself not to stare. "You're going to do it, aren't you," Ellis said, snapping the evil chaser out of her reverie. "Don't look surprised. I looked at him the same way, remember? Go for it. He is very good. You're running out of time, and you'd better do it lickety split."

"What, Psychro? I know. I can't believe I'm admitting this but, I want to and yet I don't." She figured there was no point in hiding the truth, Ellis had figured it out for herself already anyway. Mandora glanced in the direction of the house, but knew that Psychro was too far away to overhear their conversation/

"Look, you obviously want to, and if you don't you'll spend your life asking yourself if you missed an opportunity. Tomorrow, we'll go in to the city and make our own ways back. I've been meaning to spend the day catching up with Raidash anyway, so this gives me an excuse, and gives you an empty house to do whatever you like."

"I can't believe you're condoning this. After you and he..."

"What we had was special," she looked away, "but it's not right for me anymore. We're done, and I want you to feel as wonderful as I did. He likes having his belly rubbed, by the way." Ellis laughed at Mandora's horrified expression. But the veteran evil chaser didn't protest the idea any. She knew that her mind was made up. Now she had no excuses not to carry it out.

* * *

Present day.

"Psychro! You went back a day!" Luna screeched, causing many at the table to plug their ears.

The Ice/Psi Lunatak grinned the grin that had melted the hearts of many a young woman. "Did I? I hadn't noticed. How odd. Anyway, when I got back home I found that it wasn't as empty as I thought. I'm not sure how Mandora got there, or when. Maybe she hadn't even left, I wasn't paying attention that morning when Ellis went in to the city..."

* * *

One week, two days ago.

It was a little after four o'clock by the time Psychro returned. He parked the Electrocharger and took the keys, entered the house and washed his hands in the kitchen sink and set the sweetbread and the keys on the counter. The house was quiet, so he settled on the couch to read one of the books that Ellis had borrowed. She hadn't gotten around to returning any of them yet, and suspected it would be a while before the library cared. The Mutants had done a fair amount of damage to the library, and there were bloodstains on one wall from where they had slaughtered a librarian. The poor man had simply been trying to preserve some rare texts when they had burst in.

The book was on local superstitions, and was actually a fascinating read, despite the language being a little tricky to decipher. He heard movement and lowered the book enough to see that Mandora was indeed home. She was without her helmet and trademark jacket, but that wasn't unusual. When she was here, he had found, she didn't feel the need to wear her police gear, though there was something off about the way she moved around the house. It was something he had never seen in her before, and didn't think was possible. Nervousness bordering on fear? "Hey there, Manny," he said, to catch her attention. "The Electrocharger is working great. You should probably get a few replacement parts for the steering column, but otherwise it's fine."

"That's great. I guess we can be leaving soon then," she replied. This time he caught a subtle tone in her voice that almost sounded like disappointment. All his senses were blaring at him, telling him that there was something fishy going on. Were this any other woman he would say that he was going to get lucky, but he didn't dare hope. Not with Officer Mandora.

"I'm surprised to see you here, I didn't hear you come in," he rose and set the book back down on the end table.

"I can be quiet when I want to," she said, somewhat mysteriously. "We're on our own for dinner. Do you mind if we eat a little early tonight, I'm actually feeling kind of hungry."

"No, sure. I don't mind at all. I had an early lunch today anyway. I wanted to make a push on fixing the Electrocharger. Tell you what, since it's just the two of us, why don't I whip us up something. You go relax or something, I'll let you know when it's ready."

He saw her start to open her mouth, as if to say something, but she changed her mind and left the room. Her behaviour was very curious, and he was starting to think that his original guess was right. He moved from cupboard to cupboard, looking for ingredients for a nice dinner while Mandora retreated to Ellis' bedroom with the book he'd been reading.

Over the last few weeks he had noticed the kinds of food that the evil chaser liked, and had filed the information away for future use. A pie filled with various vegetables and some of the peach flavoured porridge. He found a bottle of peach spiced wine in the fridge, with a note from Ellis encouraging them to drink it, and the sweetbread for dessert.

But, as any astute practitioner of the art of seduction knew, the food was only part of the process, appearances meant everything, and a woman like Mandora deserved only the best. He moved the table closer to the couch, and subtly pushed the chair back, so that Mandora would have to sit next to him, then he draped a tablecloth over it and set out the utensils and a pair of candles he had found in a drawer.

He stepped back and eyed the set up carefully. Nothing could be out of place if his plan was to work. If Mandora was as conflicted as he thought she was, then it wouldn't take much in the way of nudging to get her out of that jumpsuit. He knew the woman was big on the side of law and order, so he figured that she would be appreciative of order in other areas of her life too. He adjusted a pillow that looked crooked, tossed out a dust bunny that had appeared beneath the table, and looked over it all again while he waited for the food to finish cooking. Everything appeared to be perfect, or he hoped it did.

Finally he doled out the food on to plates and set them on the table. The place settings were close together, which would further encourage her to sit next to him. He had actually debated it. When eating dinner with a woman, it was sometimes more intimate to be sitting across from them. From that angle he could look at them, stare into either their eyes or their cleavage if they weren't paying attention, or play footsy with them if he thought they were so inclined. Of course, side by side allowed for more direct physical contact, which he figured was preferable at this point.

Confident that everything was as good as it could get, Psychro walked down the hall and knocked lightly on the bedroom door. "Dinner's ready, Mandora," he called out, choosing to use her proper name rather than the pet one. She didn't like being called 'Manny' and he saw no reason to lower his chances.

"Be right there!" she replied. He went back in to the living room and lit the candles while he waited for her to arrive. When she came out she was still terribly nervous, from what he could tell, and she looked at him when she saw the set up. It was as though she were trying to read his intentions. "What's with the setup?" she asked.

"Well, I figured this is probably our last night on Equidarr, so we should make it special, though any time I get to spend with you is special enough," he said, winking.

"Flatterer." She sat down next to him regardless, making a show of eating.

Despite her earlier claims of hunger, he noticed that she really wasn't eating much. Mostly she was moving food around her plate. He kept the conversation light and pleasant, knowing that she was feeling a lot of nerves at present, doubtless there was little room in her stomach for food with the butterflies doing acrobatic tricks inside it. She was responsive to his questions, but was generally quiet otherwise.

As she put the dishes away, he opened the bottle of wine and poured them each a glass. Psychro knew from experience that a little alcohol could sometimes help ease a person's nerves. While he had seen the woman drink on occasion over the course of the last few weeks, she rarely drank in any quantity, and he didn't expect today to be any different. They sat quietly on the couch, as she sipped the wine carefully. "You look tense," Psychro said, his voice low as he reached for her feet. "Here, let me work the kinks out of these." The boots slid off and landed with a *thump* on the floor. Gently, but firmly, he began kneading the soles with the practised touch of one who has done it before. They were heavily callused, and she sighed contentedly at his ministrations.

"Psychro. Let's have sex," she said, blurting it out with all the grace of a Graviton.

He covered his chuckle at her awkwardness by turning the situation around. "Mandora, I just offered a foot rub. I didn't realize I was *that* good at it," he said.

"Forget the feet. I want you, and you're going to have sex with me." She pulled her feet away and stood up, taking his hand and trying to pull him to the bedroom.

"No," he replied, jerking his hand back. The look on her face was priceless, and he could read the turmoil of thoughts running through her mind. Questions of how he could be flirting with her for nine weeks and then turn her down when the offer was finally accepted. But it was all part of his game. He had her eating out of the palm of his hand. Oh, he fully intended to be nestled inside her, but not yet.

"No?" she asked, stupefied.

"No. Our relationship has evolved from 'would-be lovers' to cop and convict. It's just too complicated. Unless, of course, you were to drop the crimes against me. It's only a broken taillight," he teased. She wouldn't accept it, he knew, but he would be able to bargain from there.

"You broke the law. It is my duty..." she said. He could see very clearly that she was out of her element. She loved being in control of a situation, and when she wasn't, she floundered. If it hadn't been for certain recent events he might have tried to push her into some bondage play.

"Fine, then I guess you don't get to find out what other body parts these hands can massage. You know how good the foot rub was? It gets better. But you'll never know, unless..." his voice trailed off and his eyes twinkled with mischief. He watched as her brain processed what he'd said, and saw her eyes flick to his hands which were conveniently at his crotch, as well his vest had drooped open, showing off his abs.

"Unless?" she asked, falling easily into the trap.

"I'm a gambling man, so I'll make you a deal. I'm willing to bet that I can arouse you so much that you will be begging me to do it again, if I can then you have to drop the charge." Psychro rose to his feet and stood inches from her, kissing her lips and tasting the wine they had just consumed, it was kiss that was akin to fanning the flames, causing her arms to wrap around him. But he didn't let her get too far, after all he needed to be in charge here if he was going to get what he wanted.

"And if you don't?" she asked.

He nuzzled her neck before answering, feathering it with kisses while her hands sought to free him from his clothes. "And if I can't, then I'll come with you voluntarily and confess to the crimes you don't know about."

She hesitated with her response, her voice catching as the moral dilemma weighed on her. Did she allow personal needs to outweigh the law? The law did not bend, and would not break, she had said, but was it true? He stepped back, as if to leave her, and wound up making the decision for her. She held on to him firmly, and pressed her lips hard against his own. "It's a deal."

The words were like fireworks going off in his head as the two rushed to the bedroom. As he walked in he barely had time to take note that she had been doing some preparation in here for the festivities. Fresh new sheets of the finest silks, flower petals strewn about, a bottle of expensive oil sitting by the bed. He swallowed hard, taking the sight in, and then found himself breathless. While he had been distracted by the room, Mandora had stripped out of the leotard, revealing her perfectly sculpted body. Milky white skin that had probably never seen the light of day was exposed to him. His eyes lingered over her entire body; the gentle swell of her breasts, perfectly sized and begging to be touched, their bright red tips standing out in sharp contrast to the surrounding skin. The washboard abs and powerfully muscled thighs built and honed from years of police training. All the way down to the fine patch of blonde hair between her legs, that led to the proverbial promised land. "All right, Psychro, strip or be stripped," she said, using her most commanding voice.

He didn't need to be asked twice. In an instant he was practically tearing the clothes from his body. Gone were his vest and pants before he paused. He was acting like a teenager having his first romp, which was going against his plan. She was perfect in every way and he wanted to be in charge here. But all thoughts of that changed when she took him down with a sharp tackle as though he were just another crook and hungrily kissed him.

* * *

Present day.

"That first coupling was like nothing I've ever experienced. You're talking about a woman with seventeen years of pent up sexual energy. She easily makes it into my top three of all time."

"Only top three? Weeth that kind of lead up?" Tug Mug asked, as surprised as everyone else at the table.

"That's right. Glacin was my first, and she will always have the top spot. She taught me most of what I know about women and sex. Mandora is third, that was the wildest and most determined sex I've ever had. I'll tell you, it was well worth the weeks of being blocked. And second on the list is whomever I happen to be with that night," he winked over at Halleya, who had the decency to look away. "Anyway, since I'm not currently in jail, it should be obvious what happened next."

* * *

One week, two days ago.

They lay snuggled in each other's arms, the smell of sex lingering in the air, Psychro stared at the pale white flesh of Mandora's thigh as his hand moved gently across it. She had been fantastic, he just hoped that Chilla would be able to compete against that effort.

"I hate you," she whispered so softly that he barely heard it.

"What?" he asked.

"The charges are dropped. I'm not finished with you yet," she replied, catching the hand, and moving it to where she wanted it.

"Oh really? What's in it for me this time?" he asked. He was pleasantly exhausted and covered in sweat, but he had a reputation to maintain. If she wanted to go again, then he wouldn't really deny her, not after an experience like that. Even as he continued he began the gentle ministrations that would have her crying his name again soon enough. "Our deal just said that you would *want* more, not that I would. What can you offer me?"

"How about proof for Chilla?" she gasped.

"You know, you were so good I'd have done it anyway for nothing. But that's an offer I just can't refuse," he kissed her firmly again as he climbed on top of her once more.

* * *

Present day.

"You have proof?" Luna asked.

Psychro patted his pocket. "Right here. She was kind enough to pose for a picture, which I have promised to destroy as soon as Chilla sees them. But that doesn't mean I can't show you lot. In fact, Tug Mug, that's one of the reasons I was about to call you before you called me. I've got other plans for the night, but I want you to call Chilla on Third Earth and tell her the good news."

"I weell, Psychro," the Graviton grinned and leaned closer as Psychro pulled out the small holoprojector and set it in the middle of the table and activated it. Suddenly a small image of the two lovebirds appeared from the waist up, with Mandora giving the camera a thumbs up.

"Now then. I'd better settle my tab and get to my hotel. I've got a date tonight."

"No need. After a deed like this, I think the royal treasury can cover this one," Luna announced. Psychro bowed graciously to the queen and snatched up the holoprojector again.

* * *

Two days later.

In Sky Tomb, Chilla, Red Eye and Alluro were playing a complicated card game. Between the trio were two decks of cards. One was comprised of the names of people they knew or knew of. On the other were various questions. Points were awarded on humour.

"Safari Joe," Chilla said, reading off the top card. "Things this person says during sex... Hmm... 'Thank you Mule."

"How about nothing, because he never gets it," Red Eye said.

Alluro smirked broadly. "Safari Joe does it again!" he said amidst laughter. He tallied up the points and drew next. "Mumm-Ra, worst birthday gift you could get him. I'll say flowers, given how little light there is."

"Moisturizer," Red Eye chuckled.

"Tug Mug," Chilla hissed as they all laughed again.

"Speaking of which. There's an incoming message for you from him, Chilla," Alluro noted, casting a glance at the computer as it chirped. The Ice Lunatak woman rose from her chair and went into the next room to listen to it. Moments later, Alluro and Red Eye would hear her scream.


End file.
